2013 ---> 2014

Woo-Hoo. Wow I can not believe I am already getting to type another blog for this week. Time is flying on the mission, it is kind of scary, but I love it!!

I hope that you all had a very Merry Christmas :) I know I did.  Christmas is such an awesome time of year! I loved seeing all of my family, and some of my best friends! Love you guys and thanks for all ur support!!

So for a run down of this week:

Richmond's 200 year old home

Christmas Eve we ate dinner at the Richmond's home. This was the same home we had thanksgiving at :) we had some great food and I really felt the true meaning of Christmas. We made a nice fire and told some good Christmas stories :)

Love You all! Merry Christmas

Christmas was awesome :) we were able to be in member's homes all day! I loved it; spending time with families is soooo awesome. I am loving all the chance I get to meet so many awesome people!

Members are so Awesome here!!

I know it might be hard to believe, but the rest of the week was even better than the first part! We were able to set 5 more people for baptism :) February is going to be such a great month in the Staunton area. We are right now looking at 10 baptisms :0 I love this area!

One of the baptism is a guy we just tracked into this week. He was down :( like really down. Single guy, son just got arrested, you could tell he had many burdens. We simply talked about how Christ came to lift these burdens off of us and as you come to church you will find your life becoming easier. I love the fact that this is true, this gospel makes living life so much easier. :) if you see someone "down" maybe read a scripture with them.... Christ came so we could all live a happy life :)

So I have to tell you something awesome that happened yesterday, walking into 5 guys.... The first person we see is a member of our church from Europe somewhere. He asks what we are doing and my companion just says we are going to lunch for my birthday :/ BAM!! Pulls out 20 bucks! Members of the church are soooo nice. It really does amaze me you can go anywhere in the world and find awesome friendly people! I hope u all are treating the missionaries nice when you see them in ur area.... Cause they are treating us nice here :)

Penny Surfng

Idk if I mention but we are teaching a man named Steven. He is awesome! He is a rapper and is actually moving to Richmond in the coming months because his record label is tacking off. If you ever see an artist named tragik or a group named kurrupt concept. Buy there stuff! He is another one looking to get baptized! Many think it is impossible to be a rapper and a Mormon.... Well let's just watch and wait..... This guy could change some things :)

What a great Year!!

I can't believe that today is New Year's Eve... Wow, where did 2013 go?? I look back through all the awesome pictures I took and memories I made.... Thank you all so much for letting me be apart of all of ur fun :)

2013 is going down as the best year in my life thanks to all of you!!! ;)

I was thinking;  Let's all make one goal for 2014..... NO REGRETS

Happy New Year everybody!! Good luck, work hard, have fun, play hard, love you!!

- elder young

Merry Christmas

Wow, Merry Christmas everybody! They changed our p-day to today (Tuesday) for this week and next week because of the holiday season! Wow, it is such an awesome time of year. I love it here, it actually got up to 70 degrees on Sunday, but it is back down to the bone chilling cold. It has been a great week as far as missionary work goes though, I have some exciting news to tell :)

Big things for this week:
We set a baptismal date for Wesley!! Getting baptized on the 11th of January!!

And

We set Trinity and Zandar with a baptismal date! Both getting baptized on the 27th of February!!

It is such a cool experience for the opportunity missionaries have to help people feel the spirit! I love it!!

Oh, so I have an FML moment for this week. Not everyone will get this, woods cross soccer players will have to explain it :/ My comp and I go down to the gym to work out. I hop on a tread mill still pretty sleepy. I found the perfect pace for the "Woods Cross jog" at 4 mph. We used to run at this pass for hours on end so I got pretty used to it. So I am jogging along, bringing back the old memories of doing this for hours. Well, I closed my eyes just because I guess I was so used to that movement.... Next thing I know I fall right off the treadmill :( right onto the ground. Haha And I crash on a bike this week.... Not a very graceful week :/

We taught some really awesome lessons this week. One was to a guy, he was in a less active families home. He was taking shots of some absolute, and smoking... But he still loved the gospel! We come to find out we are actually teaching his son Stevo also! Way cool. Many of the people we teach are all because of one family in the ward. They aren't even active but they have such a strong testimony and they are not afraid to share it..... SHARE YOUR TESTIMONY. Haha the guy actually told us how he brings up religion with people. This last person he was sitting in court and he says to the guy next to him "how bout those Mormons" haha DONT BE AFRAID TO PUT YOURSELF OUT THERE. Have fun with it :)

OMG I love Firehouse Subs

Other things we did this week:
- Went to a 7th day Church
- We had a mission wide Christmas devo! So I got to see my old friends and I was especially happy because I got to hang out with elder Parkinson for a little!
- We went caroling at the old folks home with the young men and young women :)
- We played with a throwing shovel! These things are so cool!! They are just a 2 foot shovel with a sharp end to use like a throwing knife.
- We also went caroling with the Harada and Beidler families!
- Helped bishop do some farming, pushing off bails of hey!

I learned an awesome lesson this past week. We were trying to learn everyone on the ward roster. We visited a home, The dad appeared to be a member. We get there and they are actually setting up for their church Christmas party. They are both super active in another church but we talked for a solid hour. I realized, Most all churches have one common goal, to help the community!! Be friends with everyone, and if all the churches came together, life would be better for all.

The experience I am having out here are so awesome! Wouldn't change them for the world!! Love you all and thanks for all the support! Let me know if I can do anything you you :) Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! 

Great Time To Be Alive

Wow, I can't believe it is already Monday again, and I am emailing :) time is flying here. It honestly would be nice if it would slow down a bite, because we have lots to do :) this week was another awesome week though, let me tell you :) 

Elder Tolman (from Woods Cross) and I Steady Mobbin

We found 6 new investigators this week! To bad this isn't finding week haha but it was still so awesome!! In addition to that; we found a family that is super excited, but we have not been able to teach them yet! And, we tracked into a Spanish family that we actually passed off to the Spanish speaking elders. I went to the last lesson with elder Tolman just so the family had a familiar face to see :) they spoke Spanish the whole time. And the whole time I just want to speak illonggo and see if they could understand :) I didn't , but I was able to understand lots of what they were saying because of illonggo! 

Also had this awesome allergic reaction to some cats and dogs :/ FML

We did have zone conference this week. It was nice, one thing that stuck out to me more than anything. The local stake president gave a training on focus. And he mentioned my favorite quote, "eye single to the glory." So as this awesome time of the year is approaching so fast; think about what your "glory" is that you want in the end!! 

I just love taking pictures

Idk if I told you guys about Robert, but he called us a few weeks back saying he wanted to get baptized. We lost contact with him for a while. But finally after my couple of phone calls :) he called us back excited as ever!! We taught him with the Waynesboro elders and committed him to baptism!! Woo-hoo, we are going to let the Waynesboro elders finish out teaching him just because they are struggling to find work. I am still so excited for him!! January 4th is the day!! I think that's is the same day I was baptized :0

We also had our ward Christmas party this week. It turned out amazing! I will admit that I was a little scared, especially since there was no church last week to organize it. But it turned out awesome!! It actually reminded me a lot of the good old North Canyon 2nd Ward :) I heard that theirs was on the same day, I hope that it went well :) love you guys in the home ward!

I ask myself if this is real life when I receive a used lint roller from my parents. 

Last I just want to put on here a song we listened to a lot this past week; 
https://www.lds.org/youth/music?lang=eng#d The song is called Glorious. Under Especially for youth!

I have grown to love this song. I look back at all the people that I have came in contact with over my life. Each one of you played an important part in my symphony! Thank you so much for being a part of my life! I feel like I have the best symphony/life in the world! :)

Love you guys! Thank you so much for all of your support. I am probably using hangouts on Christmas if any of you are on :) or come to my house and Skye with my parents :) love you all and thanks for your support and prays :) 

P.S. who ever sent me these ducks! plz tell me!! It makes me lose sleep at night :( FML

Exciting Time of Year!

Wow this past week was so awesome! I have so many cool experiences this week, I can't wait to share them with you guys! 

First, I got to go out to my bishops house after emailing last week! Wow, he has a farm! haha We rolled a 200lb thing of hey out of his truck and then played with his: cows, chicken, pigs, goats, ass :) rabbits, horse, and this awesome baby horse! I am kind of getting used to this farm life style...... NOT. haha But it is still cool to try new things. 

Just hanging out with this baby horse.

Some little piggys

Second, Later that night we went to the a light parade. We figured it would be a great place to find new investigators, and also let people have the opportunities to see the missionaries. This parade was awesome! It reminded me of the 24th of July Parade at home. Only it wasn't hot outside and it was at night! I kind of life the change of scenery! Well the Staunton parade was awesome filled with high school marching bands, local church floats, sponsors, and the classic mayor etc. We actually did find a new investigator, so it was a good time for sure :)

Third, I got my first experience of public transportation! They have a town trolley and we rode around on it for about an hour! It's only 25 cents!! We didn't find anyone new investigators that time, but we can't wait to go back on it! It also takes us around the city so we get to see parts of this historic city we would not see other wise! 

This is who I am 

Forth, A cool experience we had this week. While eating dinner on Tuesday night, we get a call. The name "Andrew inv" comes up on our phone. I answer and the guy on the other end of the line goes onto stay; "I was taught by an Elder Frank a while back, lost contact with him, but I am ready to join your church." It was a total blessing, especially to come during "finding week." This work really is work it! 

Me in the car with a bunch of 20 year olds like wha??

Fifth, Wow, this was the best part of the week. A member in the ward got some of his friends from school together and invited us over. We had cookies, muffins, and Hot Chocolate. Then we walked down to the Black Friars Play House to see the play, The Christmas Carol. We get there to find out the only seats left were for standing room, so we took those. Well right before the play starts, a lady comes up to ask our group of friends if we would like to sit in the VIP seats? We say YES! WOW, it was so awesome, those seats that are above the stage, "where the audience watches you, as you watch the play". We had those seats! haha My Companion and I, in our "Suit and Tie", representing this amazing church center stage, It was so cool. The play went on and we actually participated in it a little :) It was so cool! 

Coming home from the play.

We were able to add a few others to our teaching pool. Many investigators we have, started to investigate the church because they had a friend that was always happy. And they want to feel the joy and hope they have. I know friends make a difference in people's life! Keep up being friends to everyone :)
Well yesterday in Staunton was a interesting day. The whole city shut down due to winter storm warning. Well we woke up to sunny skies, but by 11 o'clock sure enough there was an ice storm! Wow, a storm like I have never seen before! The rain was coming down and freezing instantly (as you can see in the pic). There ended up to be a solid 2 inches of ice on the roads, and even a frozen inch on the cars! Well it mad the cars look nice and shinny :)

Just some snow in Staunton

Even with that storm, we were able to watch the Christmas Devotional. It truly is a wonderful time of year. It was cool to hear from our church leaders, and let me echo a few words they said. "May we give as our Savior gives" and "See Christmas through the eyes of the kids." Kids truly are the most Chirst-like people on this earth today! 

 Sorry for all the selfies, but no one will take a picture with me :(

Thank you everyone for your support and prays! Love you guys and Happy Holidays!!

Where much is given, Much is required

Thanks GIving in Staunton was so awesome! We have a huge meal in the 200 year old house. For the first time in my life, I actually felt the true reason we have the Thanks Giving Holiday :) We were able to do some work for the Robinson's before Thansk GIving dinner. We started to chop up the 80ft tree. But lets just say that is a work in pregress. we counteed the "rings" in the tree and guess that it was over 100 years old. Cray Cray for sure!

We did have a very good week as far as misisonary work goes. We actually only taught and knock doors for 4 days of the week, we still had 7 awesome member present lesson and will hopefully be getting some people on date soon!. I feel #soblessed to be in the Staunton area right now! I will tell you guys about one of our lesson. :)

  

So Elder Bothell and I wake up at our normal 6:30 time to go play some basketball with a less active fellow. Holy sh8, at 7 in the morning here it was about 20 degrees, but we still played. The Less active member brought a friend of his and it was so cool. Both the less active and his friend used to be in prison. You always see those street ball games in the movies. Well that was us haha. We were in LAYERZ of clothes, just playing so 2 on 2, make it take it, with some awesome people! We were able to sit down for a little after we played and taught the less active's friend a lesson on the restoration. It was awesome. Like a kodak moment. Two missionaries, teaching in the freezing cold, on the street ball court, as the sun comes up! AHHH I love being a missionary!

 To go off my quote at the begginning: "Where much is givin, much is required". THat is defintly my companion and I right now. We feel #soblessed to be in this area write now. the misionary work is taking off!!! This week is "finding week" so please pray that we find as many as possible.

These are good. Found them at Sharp Shopper

 I love you guys at home!!! I am so thankful for everyone that has impacted my life! love you all, take care, good luck, and plz write me :)

K These computers won't let me upload pictures.... ahhh I will figure something out :/

Staunton

Well this was my last week in the inns broke ward. I loved it here. The people were so awesome and I hope to be able to serve here later in my mission :) 

Going to miss this guy, Elder Parkinson!

Just thought I would through this is cause Selfies of Dayzzzz

Some people smile in pictures.... HA

So Staunton is so awesome!!! It is so beautiful. This is a very old town from the 1800's and then there is tons of farm land. It is soooo cold here. My area is actually the coldest in the mission right now! It is 20 degrees outside in the sun with strong winds, making for a huge wind chill. Ehhhh :( it is dropping to single digits at night!

View from the Apartment

Even with all of the cold. I love it here!!! My last area it felt like there was not a lot of work to be done, well here there is! We found 7 new investigators this last Saturday. One of the doors we knocked on said, "if your religion teaches people the same family values Mitt Romney has, then It must be a true religion, and I want to join." Haha we were like HECK yeah!!! The people of Staunton are prepared to receive the gospel. Oh actually just a couple weeks ago, this area was changed from a branch to a ward! So it is kind of hectic finding out personal and stuff for the ward organization, but missionary work is in full strength! 

Gypsy Hill park

Elder Bothell and I going to town on those notes.

A big reason missionary work is so awesome here is because of my new companion Elder Bothell. He is actually from Viewmont high. He swam for them, and even swam at a school in Niagara Falls before coming to serve a mission! He is so awesome, definitely a prime companion. I feel #soblessed hahahahahaha

This week is Thanks Giving! What a wonderful time of year :) I am actually eating Thanks Giving in a 200 year old home! I am stocked! While thinking of Thanks Giving, I was thinking of what I did last year..... SOCCER TOURNEY in Saint George! I just have to say how grateful I am to my parents, my teammates, and my teammates' parents. That was our Forza teams last games together, and they were awesome. I know most of my teammates are on missions now, but just know how awesome it was playing on the same team as you. I am so thankful for the opportunity I had travel down there and playing my favorite sport, one last time with my favorite teammates. 

Well idk what else to say, I am freezing, my back hurts, but THE MISSIONARY WORK IN STAUNTON, VA IS PRESSING ON! 

Love you guys so much, and thanks for you support. 

Elder Chandler Young
107 Community Way Apt 522
Staunton, VA 24401

Moving On

Hey everyone, Just wanted to let you know that I am getting transferred this Thursday so I will be changing addresses :) I will let you know on Monday of my new address! Love you all, and would love to hear from you at my new place :)

Learn and Move Forward

Well this week is going to be short, sorry :/ Not a lot has happened this past week. Just a normal week in Richmond, Virginia!

K actually this week sucked. I was going to post like a hundred  SICK pictures..... but I formatted my memory card. Yeah..... It was definitely an FML moment. Here are some pics since then:

Elder Parkinson and I

Two lessons that I did learn this week are:
- "Open your eyes before you open your mouth"
- I was going through the area book and found a home. The family was investigating the church but stopped for no reason. We decided to visit the home. A man answered and it was not the same guy that was in the area book. But this guy was awesome! He accepted the Book of Mormon, and we are following up with him this week :) it is awesome to see the Lord's hand in missionary work.

Probably the best fortune cookie you can get while on a mission <3

Keep praying for the people in the Philippines. The sisters in my district are all safe, which is a relief! But devastation done to the people of the Philippines is  awful. Keep them in your prayers and good luck everybody!

Keep the good times rolling

"I am a representative of Jesus Christ"

All throughout my time on my mission I have been trying to think of a phrase that will catch peoples interest. Well I found it this week. This phrase is fairly simple but it is amazing the effect it can have! I still Remember the first time that I used it. It was on Wednesday of this past week. We were tracking around not having much luck. I go up to the next door to knock on it and this phrase came into my mind. It was the first thing I said, and I could see that he was already interested. He invited us back. I am so grateful for the opportunity to be able to say that

"I AM A REPRESENTATIVE OF JESUS CHRIST" 

Wow, I have learned so much this week. It honestly feels like this week also just flew by :) I love it! Something that I tried this week was to read my patriarchal blessing before I do my personal scripture study. OMG it made scripture study so much more exciting. I read Mormon 9, an awesome chapter that I would recommend to anyone :) 

Saturday night this past week was one of those night that I am going to remember for the rest of my life. It was awesome. We went over to the Henshaw family. They are a part-member family. We did some service, ordered some very good New York style pizza, built a fire and talked. We didn't get to talk that much gospel but the most important rule of MY mission is to fellowship. We did, and it turned out to be a night that reminded me of the good old fire at Checkett's house, music and fire at The B, and fires at my house. I don't know what it is, but having a fire and people around that you care about is the best thing ever! It also reminded me of this awesome opportunity I have out on this mission. 

Let the smoke clear so you can be reminded of the good times 

We are going to be friends for ever. Elder Fletcher and Elder Parkinson

"Chubby Bunny"

The Apartment Crew

Selfiies for DAYzzzz

We did also get to do a lot of service before the Henshaw. There is a family named the Robins. We get the opportunity to eat at their house every Wednesday, they are the BEST! So all day Saturday we were over there racking leafs. HAHA as you can tell by the pictures there were a lot! This is actually only about half :) So yeah we racked 3510 gallons of leafs, I am a missionary and I rack leafs. 

Oh so the reason that I am not on email till today (Tuesday) is because we had Mission Conference yesterday. It was great! We had Elder Sitati of the 1st quorum of the 70ty! The spirit he brought into the ward building was so awesome! 

 I assume of you have heard. There was an awful disaster in the Philippines. PLEASE pray for the people there. Especially the missionaries, but ESPECIALLY my sister! Love them to death and I can't imagine what is happening there. The Lords works in mysterious ways. 

Lastly I want to mention about a talk that I read this morning during my studies :) Elder Shayne M. Bowen talk "Because I live, ye shall live also" it is from this past year conference: http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/because-i-live-ye-shall-live-also

These are pictures that I took this past week as we stopped,  so we could take in the beauty around us. More importantly though these ducks reminded me of my Grandma, we used to feed the ducks together :) Love my grandma, love ducks and love this talk. It assures me I will be with her again! 

Thank you everyone for all of your support and love :) Love you all, take care and be safe! 

Settling Down

Hey everyone :) I hope that you are all doing well! I have finally been able to get settled in and have a normal missionary week in Richmond! I have had some way cool experiences this week so I will share some of them :) 

First off I am on a bike.... we bike everywhere. On the average day we are biking 30 miles. We bike on the freeways and in the dark. Let me tell you, Richmond drivers are very scary and being on a bike when it is dark is scary :(

Biking in this beautiful City

I was able to do a lot of tracking this week. I actually really like it! Meeting new people and learning about different cultures is awesome. There is a nice variety of people here. Many Muslin and Hindu. Even if we don't get to "teach" them a lesson. I still enjoy talking with them, and I hope that they can feel our love for them and also God's love! 

First Street I ever Knocked Doors as a Missionary 

We were able to do a couple service projects this week! At one families house we racked over 500 gallons of pine needles into bags. Oh by the way, RICHMOND IS BEAUTIFUL. I always thought that Bountiful, Utah had awesome colors of leafs during the fall, but Richmond has even better! I hope you enjoy some of the pictures! 

Service with a smile :)

We were able to to contact a referral we got this week from head quarters! This family was living in a hotel. They let us right in, and we were able to teach an awesome lesson of the restored gospel. Later that week we went back and the dad answered the door, he said that his family no longer needed us, he was not there when were taught his family the first time and it was sad; Because we still feel like the rest of the family wanted us there :/ it was to bad.

We did however run into an awesome guy walking out of that hotel. We talked to him about so much stuff. Honestly, he taught me so much about life and everything! He didn't want to accept the gospel but was still so nice and I learn two true life lessons from him!

          1) A child raised on love, shows love.

          2) Our relationship with our Father in Heaven is OURS! It is personal. I was reading a talk from May 2013   conference. He said something that I had been thinking a lot about this past week. When we finally are               able to see God and meet him, we will recognize him. He will be our friend and will not be a stranger. So               just a thought; This life is about building our own relationship with God! We can't and shouldn't build                     anyone else.

Great Guy I met, Named Mark, from Connecticut 

Another lesson I learned this week was from a sister in the ward. She feed us dinner like normal but then we got talking. She is white, sorry just have to throw that out there (never met a white person from Africa). So she is from South Africa, Cape town. We talked with her about her journey over to America and why her and her family came. I learned so much about Cape town and the culture their. Let me tell you, life in the USA is soooo safe compared to their. I have definitely taken that for granted and that is one thing I will be thankful for this upcoming Thanks Giving! 

Last, just leave you with a idea to put in your head: the Restoration of the church had not already happened nor did it happen, it is CURRENTLY happening.

Love you all so much. Oh, now I am not able to print unlimited emails so I LOVE letters cause I can read them when ever and reply whenever! Also, I did think of a cool idea, If you want to send me an SD card like 1 gb, I will make a video on on my camera and send the SD card back to you in a letter :) just something fun. Love you all and thanks for your support!!! 

Elder Parkinson, Me, Saunders, Langford, Fletcher

Greatest thing ever; Being able to see some friends before I leave

Peace to Utah, you have been fun. But it is time I take my talent to the East Coast

Well I finally made it to my mission in Richmond, Virginia :) The mission president and his wife picked me up and we drove around Richmond for a while. It is very nice and very rich in American History. The are no mountains which is disappointing but it is very green and beautiful! I love the mission president and his wife, they are super nice and fun! 

So it turns out my first area.... Is super nice :) Me and 4 other elders live in an area called The Gardens. Very nice :) I love it!! The ward here is so awesome! We have 5 missionaries assigned to the ward so there is a lot of missionary work to be done! I have eaten dinners with members the past two nights here :) the members are so nice and willing to help you out. Many of the are RMs going to VCU in medical school. 

We have taught one lesson to a recent convert. He is super nice! We are working with him to get him to go through the D.C. temple! We taught about the temples and there was so much that I learned just from teaching him! We also are going to invite another Sister to be baptized today so wish us luck :) 

As we as missionaries sat down with the Bishop yesterday; He talked about one specific talk from this past general conference! Elder Ballard's. We all can do two simple things that he has asked to help make everyone more happy around this coming holiday season. Pray: pray to God to thank him and ask for his hand in your life more. Pray to be that willing "vessel". And the 2nd one; reach out. Not everyone is as blessed as us to have this wonderful gospel in our life. Reach out to everyone but especially those that don't, so they are able to fill God's love.

Elder Parkinson, Young, Saunders, Langford, Fletcher

Well I love you all and thank you so much! My new Address is:

Elder Young #204

4710 The Gardens Dr.

Glen Allen, VA 23059