Week 16... JAX Beaches

Hey Everyone!!! :)

Remember how last week was incredibly boring and slow??

Well... SO WAS THIS WEEK!!! WOOHOOHOOHOO!!! :D

But really.

Seems like Sis J and I have hit a slow patch where people just seem to fall off the face of the earth.

*insert visual of people flying off the earth and Sis J and I kneeling on the pavement yelling "Porque!!!"

Anywhoohoo,

We got to teach one lesson though!!! Good ole plan of salvation!! It was so awesome! We made the lady cry. It's a shame she doesn't live in our area.. I would love to teach her. But we referred her to the missionaries in her area.

Natalie is struggling a lot. She gets depressed during this time of the year so we went and visited her and were able to cheer her up with some scriptures! Yay for scriptures!!! :)

I drove for the first time in 4 months!! :D That was the beeest!!! I felt like I was 16 again!! I'm sure Sis J was sorta terrified.. but that's okay. And I'm also a Facebook missionary!! AND we are getting i pads in a week and a half!!!! HOW GLORIOUS IS THAT?! Watch out Florida... I'm movin' up in the world!! ;)

So rules for Facebook. I can't be friends with anyone except family. Immediate family. Sorry everyone else... but for my family.. WOOOO ;) I'm really excited for that. The Lord is certainly hastening the work! I'm so humbled to be apart of it!

Sister J had a head cold this week so that slowed us down a bit. Satan has been (as Christian would say on his misison) .. "Drinking energy drinks". I now understand that. haha. I think of the song "I get knocked down.. then I get up again.. something something something" haha.. No matter what.. I will keep getting up again!!

WE WILL FIND INVESTIGATORS THIS WEEK.

And there shall be many.

They shall flock to us.

And there will be much rejoicing.

*Confetti*

Spritual thought: Let's talk about snow flakes. Every snow flake has 6 points and they are all made up of the same atomic material.. they go through the same process to become a snowflake but some how.. they are all different. So it is with all of us. We can apply this to our lives hear on earth.. We all have the same spiritual DNA. We are children of Heavenly Father.. We all "fell from the sky". But we all have different paths to Christ. Some of us may take longer to get there.. to turn from a speck of dust and water molecules into a beautiful, pure, flake of snow.. but if we aim for Him.. we will get there.  I thought it was very cool to think about. :) All things testify of Christ!! :)

WElllp, That's about all I have for ya'll this week. Sorry for the lame emails lately but I promise next week will be suuuper great and exciting!! Thank you for everything! I love ya'll so much!

Have a blessed week, ya'll :)

Love, Sister Chamberlain 

Zone Conference

Pondering

                              

Week 15... JAX Beaches

Hi there!!

So, not much happened this week so it's gonna be a shortish email.

Actually... I’ll probably find something to ramble about.. So I take back that last sentence! :D

Uhh.... Brain fog.

It was one of those weeks where you don't really know what happened because it was all a blur. Yeah. ... Like.. I'm still trying to process the thought that it's p-day again. Wasn't it just p-day???

ANYWHO.

So last Monday night I was peacefully sleeping and I hear all this banging and screaming and profanities coming from our neighbors. Sis Joseph and I woke up and was like... "whhhaaat in the wooorld" haha.. Well... Apparently Someone caught their boyfriend cheating on them. It was super awkward. And kind of hilarious. So there's that story. Hopefully that solves our little ... chastity problem. They should've heeded to the pamphlet that we left them!! Ha!

We cleaned Natalie's house!!! That was super fun!! There is nothing like hanging up clothes on a line in the projects of Jacksonville. But really. I loved it a lot. I really wish I could do service more out here. We tackled her place for about 3 hours and cleaned up all the dust and dog hair and ash and by the end it was SPARKLING WITH CLEANLINESS. Kinda.. Regardless, it was awesome to rock out to some Mormon tunes with her. Now if we could just get her to move out of her apartment... and come to church......

This week we focused on finding. Because our teaching pool isn't really a pool. Or a puddle. It's like a miniscule drop of water which consists of Natalie. haha. It doesn't help that it was "cold" here. When it gets cold everyone falls of the face of the earth. I was able to talk to a couple squirrels.. they were pretty receptive.

Do ya'll have any ideas for door approaches??? We are running out of ideas. haha.

SO yeah!!! Thats basically it for this week. Nothing to magically exciting.. but that just means there is fun to come!!! BRING IT ONNN!!! :D

I love you all so much!! I know that this church is true!!! And it's amazing!! ;D There is so much good still left in the world. Concentrate on the good. :)

Have a Peachy Keen week. :)

Love, Sister Chamberlain

Week 14... JAX Beaches

Hello there everyone! ! ! 

What is crackalackin over there in Utah??? I hope ya'll aren't lackin... in the crackin.... ? 

K. So this week has been lovely!! A little on the slownothingtooexcitinghappened side. But lovely none the less. :) I haven't done my typical bullet point list in a while so I think I'll revisit those! 

-We found a less active family!!! It was a miracle really they just so happen to be in our apartment complex and they didn't transfer their records and WE FOUND THEM MUAHAHAHAHA. I tell you what.... Mormons are like the world’s best stalkers. Like.. The good kind of stalker.. Like the... we aren't letting you get away from this wonderfulness so we are going to stalk you so you can have eternal life... I think it's a valid reason. I digress.. Bro Parker is an amaaaazing cook. He has ruined all food for me. Haha. He made French onion soup and I about passed out because it was so good. So yeah... If I come home 300 lbs heavier you can blame him. They are really really nice and I love them dearly. 

-Natalie is struggling. Her boyfriend is still supes creepy and every time I see him I kinda want to throw an anvil at him ... but. .. I suppose that isn't very Christ like of me is it? Bahaha. I TRY SO HARD TO LOVE HIM. It's hard when he is a MONSTER. Okay. I need to calm down... but anywhoohoooo keep her in your prayers please :) 

--My headaches are still doing wooonderful!!! :) 

-So we went tracting and we ran into this really nice lady who gave us freshly picked oranges from her tree!!! They were hands down... the best pieces of citrus I've ever had the pleasure of inhaling. Reason #342 I love Florida. :) 

- Whilst on the same tracting adventure we ran into a man named Skip!! He was suuper nice!! We discussed our beliefs and he discussed his and it was super great and the spirit was so strong! He was this cute lil old man. Anyhoo, he was putting sheets out on his plants (because apparently that’s a thing over here) and we had a prayer with him and when we said amen the clouds parted, the sun, came out and there was a rainbow. No biggie. He said maybe it was a sign. I thought to myself "YOU BET YOUR SWEET BIPPY ITS A SIGN. WANNA BE BAPTIZED?" hahaha,,, we are planning on visiting him soon. :) God is good. I love it when he shows off. 

-We got a new Elder in JAX Beaches!!! His name is Elder Walt! He is super funny. He says his favorite things are "hiking, hot chocolate, stars, and rainbows" hahaha. Sooo that's fun! He is a really good missionary and I'm excited to work with him. 

-So my adventure of the week!!! Our lovely neighbor, Jennifer, invited us over to a bbq with her family and a couple of friends! Which was really nice of her so we decided to go over cause apparently people here in the apartment complex are "intrigued" with us... and they talk about us and all our weird beliefs and what not.. haha. Anyhoo, we show up and there are quite a few people and a lot of beer and cigarettes. Yaaay. So somehow Sis Joseph and I got cornered at a table with an atheist, a devote catholic, and someone who believes extra-terrestrials visit the earth on a regular occurrence. It seriously sounds like the beginning of a joke!! Anyhoo, they were all very intoxicated and had so many questions and YEAHH. It was quite intense. I felt pretty awesome though that’s for sure. :) 

-Sooo that’s my week!! Pretty great eh?!?!?! I KNOW RIGHT MISSIONS ARE THE BEST. 

I hope ya'll are having a simply splendid week full of many magical moments. N stuff. 

The church is so very true!! I love missionary work and the Lord and all of you!!!! 

Stay classy now. 

Love, Your favorite sister missionary, Sis Chamberlain :) 

Week 13... JAX Beaches

Hi everyone!

I wish words could describe how crazy this week has been. Crazy, as in "Sister Chamberlain took a ride on the hormonal emotional roller coaster", crazy. Buuuut before we get into all that emotional mumbo jumbo... (I know you love hearing about my crazy sister missionary hormones) ...

Let’s talk about the weather.

It's 33 degrees.

PORQUE FLORIDA.. POOOORRQUUUUEEE?!?!?!

It's actually really funny to see the people here in their huge puffy coats and boots. Yesterday I saw people covering their trees in sheets and basically everyone is hibernating. It's hilarious. Nobody is out.

But I'm from UTAH! BOOYAH!

Needless to say... The Lord knew where he was sending me, to a place where it’s warm and sunny 80% of the time. I love warm. :)

Also, I am staying in JAX Beaches for another transfer! I am beyond happy about this. I could probably stay here my whole mission and be peachy keen with it. The ward here is beyond amazing. SO YEAH!

Debbie was confirmed this Sunday, which is a miracle considering she had gallstones!!! That woman never fails to impress me. She is one of the strongest people I know. I've heard that gallstones are worse than childbirth?? *shudder*… I am so extremely happy for her though. :) We just got to get her through this. “old hairy legs” (satan) always has to throw something in there. I swear... I want to drop an anvil on his head sometimes. And when I say sometimes... I mean all the times.

I digress.

Sooo... Update on the headache drama!!!! (This is where you get on the roller coaster... Keep your arms and legs inside the car, hold on tight and enjoy the ride!!)

My headaches were really slowing down the work. I was in about 30% throughout the past few weeks... So I was feeling like a lousy, worthless missionary. Towards the end of the week (Friday) I was really... really... Depressed. Now this wasn't like... I feel down and a bit blue... It was like... I sat on a chair, stared off into space, plucking nonsense on my ukulele, wallowing in self-pity for 6 hours. I wasn't motivated to do anything except breathe! I did nothing. It was so bad! My poor companion was feeling the same way. It's so dumb how satan can just... DO THAT.

So the next morning I was feeling the same way and that depressed me even more so we decided to call President C! (dun dun dunnn)  We called him and I fell apart and cried and blubbered and did all that lovely stuff and explained to him what has going on. Well, he basically rebuked us for a while... very lovingly might I add. But he said I needed to fast and pray about going home. When he said that... I panicked... Sis J shot out of her chair and started to get things organized to work. I guess that’s one way to get yourself out of the blues!!!! Haha! My first initial thought was "THERE IS NO WAY IM GOING HOME. SISTER J WILL HAVE TO DRAG MY DEAD CORPSE AROUND IF SHE HAS TO BUT IM NOT STEPPING FOOT ON A PLANE FOR ANOTHER 14 MONTHS" But as I thought more about it and prayed more about it.. I knew that I needed to do the Lord's will. Whatever it was. If I needed to go home and get better and come back then so be it!!!

Even if.. it killed my pride.. and dignity... 

Basically I was humbled to the dust. It was so hard. I was so afraid to pray and ask because I was afraid of the answer… But then I realized… The Lord will take care of me. He knows what I need to do and I have faith that everything will be okay! So on Sunday I fasted and prayed and cried (i cried a lot... we had to swim out of the apartment.. Bahaha) and during personal study I read in Mosiah 26. Look it up. It's a great chapter. In verse 20 it says " thou art my servant: and I covenant with thee that thou shalt have eternal life; and thou shalt serve me and go forth in my name, and shalt gather together my sheep". At that moment I knew my answer. I needed to stay here in Florida no matter how bad my headaches were, the Lord would help me through them. I was so thrilled with the thought of being able to stay I about exploded I was sooo happy!!! I read the whole chapter and it just fit my situation perfectly. I know God hears and answers prayers. Sometimes you just need to be humble enough to hear the answer!

 So that was beyond amazing!! I cried some more. Cause... apparently that’s what I do.

The next day… We had an appointment to see a brother in the ward who was a chiropractor to see if anything was wrong with my back! As soon as he started checking my back and neck I was so overwhelmed with the spirit. I literally felt as if my Savior was healing me. It was one of thee coolest things I have ever felt. Apparently my c1 (a place on the spinal cord right below your skull) was moved quite a bit out of place and was pinching the nerves. He cracked it back into place and it felt like the weight of the world was gone off my shoulders. ALL OF THE RELIEF. This headache I've had for wayyy too long was gone. JUST LIKE THAT. I have a testimony of chiropractors. Haha. But I know for a fact that it wouldn't have ended this way if I hadn't decided before that no matter how bad the pain was I was going to stay on my mission.

Heavenly Father teaches lessons in the most interesting way. It's usually the hard way. But I have learned soooo much this past week and my faith in the Savior has grown exponentially. I know it wasn't the chiropractor that healed me… It was my Savior Jesus Christ. He healed me emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically. It was so incredible. I know that Jesus Christ lives and he can heal everyone. Even the most broken of spirits. I have witnessed that time and time again on my mission.

I AM SO HAPPY.

Thank you so much for your prayers and support! The church is true, the book is blue, and I’m happy! :) I love ya'll so much! Talk to you next week! :)

Love, Sister Chamberlain