Week 9.. JAX Beaches

Annnnnnd here we go for week 9!!!! :D

Hello! This week was good! Splendid even! LIKE THE SUGAR!

...That's the sugar stuff right...?

I digress.

First off, I apologize for the weirdness of my emails. I hope you know that I'm not like this all the time.

... Okay. You're right. I am like this all the time.

ANYWHO.

This week was pretty swell!

-I went Christmas tree shopping with a less active member and it was lovely. I have never shopped for a real Christmas tree. So it was fun!!! :)

-My headaches have come back. They are there all the time. Every day. It. is. so. ANNOYING. Buuuut it's all good! I have more important things to worry about! That said, I think I am going to talk to the medical missionaries about it if I don't find a way to make them go away.

-So we had a lesson with Debbie! (The lady who walked into church) and it was amazing. The spirit was soo strong! She is the very definition of a golden investigator! I love her to death! She has been reading the Book of Mormon online and when we handed her her own copy she just cried and cried and held it like it was the most precious thing on earth. It was so sweet. Man, I love missionary work. She has a bap. date for Dec. 29th! So... it will indeed be a white Christmas ;)

-I had a trade off with my sister training leader and it was super great! I really like going on trade offs because you learn sooo much! We were street contacting on the boardwalk by the beach and some guy came up to us and had a really thick Russian accent and asked us if we wanted to go swimming with him. "Heyyy! You pretty gurls want to come swimming with me! We have funn!!" He was like 60. *gag*. It was really creepy cause he kept moving closer to us and we kept inching away.... then we told him we were Mormon Missionaries and he spent the next 45 min trying to deconvert us and convert us the Catholic Church. Awwwkwaaardddd.... hahaha. It was actually pretty funny that’s for sure. There are some weird people out here. Don't worry, I didn't let the creepy old polish anti man touch me.

-Natalie is progressing just fine! Pray that she will be able to get out of her boyfriend’s house. *sigh* I really just want to punch her "boyfriend" in the neck. Buuuut that wouldn't be dignified. haha. I love her to death though! She is so sweet and has such a sincere desire to learn more!

-OK. Sooo remember a couple weeks ago I told you about our noisy neighbors and breaking the law of chastity??? Yeah. Well.. it happened again. *cry* Welllll this time I did something about it! Haha! I may have left a chastity pamphlet in their door. Hahaha. I think I’m hilarious. I'm sure they just loooved it. :D Hey! You never know! They will probably be baptized because of that pamphlet. Noo biggie.

-This week I have learned more what it means to have faith in Christ's atonement.  A lot of the time, as missionaries, we feel inadequate... beyond measure. haha. I'm 19! How in the world am I supposed to change these people lives! And then Satan is really good at bringing up stupid stuff from the past.. "Hey.. remember when you did this? And this?   ha... ha... some missionary you are!" It's not the funnest. That said, when you think about Christ's atonement and his grace.. All of that doesn't matter. We are just human! Of course we can't be perfect and Christ knows that. His atonement makes up the difference. Always. I am so thankful for that in my life. It certainly takes the pressure off of being perfect. That said, you always have to try your hardest!! Which I am! I love my Savior. I love the Christmas season! I love missions! I love all of you!!!!

-We got a Christmas tree. It's the best.

-AND THATS ALL FOR THIS WEEK! Wooohoo!!!

I love ya'll so much! Have a scrumdiddlyumptious week! :)

Love, Sister Chamberlain :) 

Thanksgiving 2013

To the Zoo

To the beach!!

Week 8... JAX Beaches

HELLLOOOO :)

SO. I have finished yet another week in the mission. And today is the 2nd of December which means I've been out here officially 2 months. 

*panic*

I swear I say this in every email... buuut.. WHERE IN THE WORLD IS THE TIME GOING?! IS SOMEONE STEALING IT CAUSE IF YOU ARE CALM DOWN. I HAVE FLORIDA TO CONVERT HERE.

Ok.

So I have a bunch to talk about this week and like... .5 seconds to tell you allll sooo... *cuecrazyinforvomiting*

-I went to the zoo. I saw animals. They were cool. N stuff.

-Anteaters. Are. So. Cute. I know what I want for Christmas :)

-It's been cold here. COLD! I DON'T UNDERSTAND.

-I need to calm down on the caps.

-Okay! Thanksgiving! I hope ya'll had a lovely thanksgiving!!! Mine was sooo great! :) We had dinner at the Buffets. Which was great. And I think I gained about 300 lbs. Which was also great. After that we visited Natalie our investigator! That was amazing cause she gained a testimony of the Book of Mormon. NO BIGGIE. It was amazing and she is progressing so much!!!! She lives in the ghetto. Which is slightly terrifying. Only slightly. Natalie was telling us how people get shot and stabbed and kidnapped all the time.... *gulp*. The Lord watches over his sister missionaries. So fret not!! :) After that we went to the P family's. To their 7 million dollar house. It is a freaking CASTLE. Complete with secret rooms and hallways. They had a tee pee and a fire and we roasted marshmallows and drank hot chocolate! It was sooo cool!!! So we went from the ghetto to freaking Beverly Hills within an hour. haha. It was great. ;) After we went to the M family's. I love the M's. They are like my family and going there made me think of my family cause all we did was laugh and laugh and laugh. It was sooo nice!! I didn't feel homesick at all! Which was really nice. So thanksgiving = amazing :)

-I guess I had too much pie.. or something cause the next day I got the mother of all migraines. I had to stay in cause I was pretty demobilized. I never understood why missionaries felt so bad staying in if they were sick. Now I know. It was awful!!! Anywho. I'm feeling much better ;) That night whilest laying there in pain Sis J decided to tell me about some of the novels she liked to read while she was home! It was great!!! 4 HOURS LATER. hahaha. She talked for 4 hours. It was really hilarious. I was too dead to say anything except "uhh huh... yep... mmhmmm.." Bless her heart. haha.

-I had my first interview with President Craig! It was great. I love him. The end.

-The elders had a baptism this past Saturday that we got to go see!!! It was so cool! The church is true.

-OK. So this Sunday was named miracle Sunday. Soooo many cool things happened!!! First off, Natalie came to church!!! FINALLY!!! PRAISE THE HEAVENS SHE FINALLY CAME!!!! And she absolutely loooved it! She cried throughout the whole thing and kept saying how blessed she was. It was so sweet! She bore her testimony in RS and is just amazing. I looove being a missionary for this reason. She looks soo happy. She just glows. It is the most beautiful I think I've ever seen. And then... After RS this non member lady came up to sister J and I and asked us if we were on the beach this past summer... we were confused and said no... and she just starts crying!!! She then goes on to explain that 2 young women who looked similar to us walked up to her and taught her the most amazing message and then they left! When the lady looked to see where they had walked to... they were gone. No one was on the beach. She said when she saw sister J and I in the church she knew this was where God wanted her to be. Apparently she just walked into the church and we just happened to be there having sacrament! It was soo incredible. I have no words for how I felt at that time. The Lord really is preparing people. Angels are literally preparing people. How cool?? Moroni 7:22 explains it perfectly!! So we are teaching her this Wednesday! It was a day of miracles for sure :) The church is soooo true. It's incredible. I love being a missionary. Best. Job. Ever.

-Sooooo today guess what I did??? A lady in my ward loves to fossil hunt on the beach...... >:) We totally got permission from the mission president to go on the beach. MUAHAHAHA!!!! I have gone where no missionary has gone before!!! IT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIIIIFE. K... maybe not. But pretty dang close. I got to play in the sand and find some really really cool shells and shark teeth and touch the water and and and and and *EXPLODES WITH FLAWLESS MERRIMENT* (haha.. Savanah..) Anywho. I love the beach. It's so great. *cries*

-Annnnnd thats basically it!!!!!!!!

-Missionary work is so amazing. Even though some days are long... the days where you can tell you are changing lives make it all worth it. We run into a lot of "broken vessels" and when you can fill those hole and scars with the light of Christ... well, there isn't much that can compare to that. :) It's truly amazing and this is the Lord's work! Thanks for all your love!!! I appreciate it so much!!! :) I hope ya'll have a lovely week!

-Lots of ooey gooey love, Sister Chamberlain : )

Week 7... JAX Beaches

Hey their Ya'll! 
This week was pretty delicious. If I do say so myself. 
Basically, Priesthood blessings are amazing and they do wonders. This week I felt a new sense of confidence in what I'm doing! I feel happier and I can feel the spirit more. My personal studies are becoming more meaningful and I can just feel my testimony grrooowwwinng and growwwing!!
IT'S SO GREAT AND THE CHURCH IS TRUE. *cough* 
Needless to say, priesthood blessings are incredible. 
BULLET POINT TIME! 
-First off, I don't have a lot of time because we are going to the zoo TODAY! HOORAY FOR THE ZOOOOOOO!!! It's like down-pouring right now. Sooo... that might be interesting. But hey, the zoo is the zoo. :D
-Okay. Dad. This is for you. You are like a freaking prophet. haha. You send me an email that said "You will get an investigator tomorrow". Um.. guess who got an investigator? WE DID. Super cool. We went street contacting on the boardwalk. By the beach. We can't be on the beach but we can certainly look at it!!!! I saw this lady sitting so I went and sat down next to her and asked her how her day was etc etc and then introduced ourselves as the missionaries from the Mormon church and she said "oh! I've been trying to get dat book of yours!!" .... *shifty eyes*.... you mean the book of Mormon? YEAH! That one!!! Well... I think we could possibly help you out with that! haha! It was SO GREAT! So Dad, you are amazing and keep it up with this whole predicting the future thing. haha. She is sorta homeless... so that will be interesting but she is super elect. And amazing. and just AH! Missions man... super cool.
-Natalie is progressing sooo well!!!! We ran into some roadblocks cause she has a super gross boyfriend who is abusive and rude who makes me want to punch kittens... soooo ... yeah. But God is good and made it so we could overcome a lot of stuff. She came to this super amazing RS holiday party and the spirit was so strong and she loved it and wants to come to church and be baptized and ALL OF THE MIRACLES!!!! haha. I love her. The relief society party was fun! And sentimental. It was based on family traditions. *cries* haha. It was really nice though. It was nice to get in the Christmas mood. even if I wasn't with my family. I shared how we all go to a Chinese restaurant on Christmas and they got a pretty good kick out of that :) 
-We ran into a SUPER Catholic guy who was really intense and wanted to argue and it was really funny. And depressing. The end. 
-So I've started reading Jesus the Christ. K. Um. If I could send you a picture of my mind being blown.. I would. Seriously... that book... is incredible. I have learned so many amazing things about Christ and I can feel my testimony of Him growing so much stronger. I wish I could explain my feelings about Christ. But it's something that only feels can explain. I know He lives though. Simple as that. :) He is my best friend out here and I love Him. :)
-So a lady in my ward took us to a really delightful restaurant named LuLu's. Mom... I know how much you love seafood. So when I get home.. we are coming back just so we can come here. It is right on the river and all of the seafood is freshly caught and it was just yuuummy.... fooood.... *drool* I'm going to come home 400 lbs.. haha. 
-OH! So today is Tuesday. Right. We have transfers this week... Excuse this next part of my email... 
WHATINTHEWOLDITSALREADYTRANSFERSWHEREISALLTHETIMEGOINGISTILLNEEDTOCONVERTALLOFFLORIDAWAAAAWAAAAWAAA
Okay. I feel better. :)   I'm staying in JAX Beach!!! HOORAY! I am very happy about this because I love this area and my ward and my companion. So it's great. :) 
-Annnnnd that's about it for this week!! Overall it's been a really good week with lots of miracles. :)

 I hope this week you remember what you are thankful for cause it's Thanksgiving!!! Read Mosiah 2 and just bask in it's spiritual goodness. It talks a lot about how we should be thankful. It's amazing!!! I am so thankful that I am out here on my mission. Words cannot begin to describe how much I've grown. I am so thankful that I have 18 months to LOOOVE  PEOPLE!!! I'm thankful for my amazing family who gives me strength to press forward everyday. I can feel your prayers. Thank you thank you thank you!!! I love you all! Have a blessed Thanksgiving!!! :) 
Until next week.. Stay classy my friends ;)
 
Love, Sister Chamberlain :) 
P.s. oh yeah. We found another investigator. Her name is Merril. And she is the cutest old lady ever and I want to take her home. The end. 
831

Week 6... JAX Beaches

HELLLOOOO EVERYBODY!!!

This week has been interesting! Good interesting! I really like bullet points soooo I think I'll do that!!

FIRST: There was a really creepy guy at the library. He wanted our emails and told us he had A LOT of issues. We tried to help him... buuuut... it seemed as if he wanted to overthrow the government rather than come unto Christ. Which is fine. Still weird. *shudder*

-We are teaching a lady named Ratavia! I thought her name was Raptavia... like off of Fiddler on the Roof and called her that for a good 2 days. Awwkard. Well she is African American and has two little black boys!!! THEY ARE SO FREAKING CUTE I JUST WANT TO KIDNAP THEM. I also want to stay on my mission so I have restrained myself. Savanah would die if she saw them.
We just talked about praying and God and stuff! She is really nice! I am excited to see where things go with her!

-Had a zone conference!! It was super good! 8 hours of puuure spiriutal goodness!

-It got really, really cold here on Tuesday... it was like 50 degrees!!! AHH! So cold!! hahahaha. But really.. It was freezing. Humid cold = not fun. it = colllldd.

-So Sis Joseph and I had a really good companion inventory. I had a pretty good meltdown and cried for like 2 hours because Satan is a really bologna head and yahh. It was soooo good though. And much needed. Our companionship is getting stronger everyday and I just love her to death. :)

-So basically all we do all day every day is visit people. Or try to. Nobody is ever home. EVER. Like.. I think 3 people answered their door this past week. It is actually really funny and Sis Joseph and I just laaaugh and laugh and it all! I love it! :) We also renamed Ponte Vedra "Jericho" cause of all the gated communities. We are working on making those walls tuuumble down!! haha! Get it?

-We had a lesson with Natalie!!! Which was super great! Then we found out she was reading stuff about Joseph Smith that was suuper untrue. Which was... terrible. *sigh* But we were able to clear up most of it and we are going to the family history center this week with her! Super excited! :)

-So Sis Joseph and I were street contacting and we were talking to this Lady while she was trying to catch her dogs and juuuust as we were about to ask her some soul penetrating question about God and what not her dog runs out into the middle of the street and GETS HIT BY A CAR RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR FACES. It was terrifying!! And she just sat there and screamed and Sis J and I were like... uhhhh.................. awkward... The dog was fine. The old man who hit the dog was pretty shaken up. The lady was very angry and stomped inside. The end. haha. Street contacting = fuuuun ;)

-OH. So... pray for my apartment to have thicker walls. Please. *cry* I was just rudely awoken by the heathens next door breaking the law of chastity. Noooo biggie. That said.. I am so beyond scarred. We had the Elders give our apartment a blessing and it feels so much better! I love the priesthood! :)

-I finally finished the Book of Mormon!!! BEST FEELING EVER. I prayed about it and did just what Moroni asked.. and I got an answer. Such a sweet, gentle assurance from the spirit. It was incredible. The Book of Mormon is true! The Church is true! AH! I just love it alll! It's so amazing!! If you haven't read the Book of Mormon... read it. It will change your life! If you have read it.. read it again! :)

-This past week Satan was working overtime on both Sister Joseph and I. We managed to stay pretty positive about our lack of success (not from lack of trying). But last night we just felt something wasn't right with our spirits. It was really weird. I have never had low self-confidence before but yesterday it was like a constant struggle between me and the adversary. He would not leave me alone and it was driving me crazy. Last night Sister Joseph fell apart and cried that she had been feeling the exact same way as I have. It was crazy! And the spirit sooo strongly told both of us to get priesthood blessings because there was something bad with both of us. Needless to say.. We both got priesthood blessings from our ward mission leader. It was sooo powerful. He cried. We cried. His wife cried. All the tears. The spirit was so strong and I literally felt something leave and my whole countenance changed. Amazing. I love the priesthood so much. Satan is real and powerful. But the power of the Lord will ALWAYS overcome that. I felt as if Christ himself was giving me a hug. It was amazing.

-The church is true! :)

-Well, I believe that is all for this week! Regardless of how stupid Satan is..and how we don't have much success... I am absolutely LOVING it out here. I love my mission. I love it i love it i love it!!! I would rather be no where else. The Lord has strengthened me so much it's amazing. It's weird to think that I am still 19 year old Alyssa... Changing peoples lives.. Still so weird to think about but I am doing it because the Lord is helping me.

Thank you for everything! I enjoy getting to hear from all of you!!! :)

Have a blessed week, ya'll!

Love, Sis Chamberlain :)