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

Change of Plans

This week has been so awesome. Our last week in the MTC. I have been able to watch all of my sister leave for the Philippines. :) 

BYE bye shout out to Sister Viliami, Ribelin, and Haun

Don't look back when there is so much good ahead

But with that, I also have some big news.... About 2 Weeks ago I went and saw the doctor because my back started to bother me while I was teaching a lesson. Stuff happens, I do some X-rays, blood work, and MRI. The doctors and MTC President have decided not to allow me to go to the Philippines with these injures. They have decided that I will be going state side. They have said that if I am able to make it through Physical therapy and my back is 100 that they will let me go to the Philippines. 

Well I did finally get my new reassignment and it is: Richmond, Virginia

I am so grateful for this time in the MTC. I have loved it here. Don't get me wrong, sometimes it sucked. But there were so many more amazing times. I am grateful that I was able to stay in the MTC while I waited for my call! I have had 2 amazing spiritual experience with my teacher; since all the sisters left. 

I have learned through all of these ups and downs here that god has a plan for us. WE JUST NEED TO HAVE FAITH IN HIS PLAN. I invite everyone to watch this clip: http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2012-01-014-the-will-of-god?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2012

"The Lord will test you, try you, then raise you to YOUR glory."

I know that god has another plan for me. I am excited to see what happens in Richmond, Virginia  Thanks everyone for all of your support. Love you all and good luck!!!

Last Week in MTC

That is how we DEW

Great Group

Me, The Canadian Archy, Haun Solo and Elder Ellis from New Zealand 

Ahhhh YEAH

What up world?

Love these two sister! MY BEST FRIENDS

Feeling of the Pioneers

Kamusta errrbody. Hope that you are all doing great at home. Life is rolling along here in the MTC. It was a big week for me, my zone, and the world wide church! haha Conference was great, first time I honestly can say that I got something out of it :) haha and didn't sleep through it at all. My favorite quotes from it are:

 "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard, to bring souls unto him"  - President Monson

“Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit.”  - Ulisses Soares

 "We all need each other" - Carol M. Stephens

 "He loves us for who we are and for who we can become.” - Timothy J. Dyches

“Fatigue is the common enemy of us all-–so slow down, rest up, replenish, and refill.” - Elder Holland

"A friend cares. A friend shows love. A friend listens. And a friend reaches out." - President Monson

“We mortals do not become champions without effort and discipline or without making mistakes.” - President Uchtdorf

 “If you are humble, you will want to be obedient. If you are obedient, you will feel the Spirit.” - Randy D Funk

 “No one is a stranger to our Heavenly Father.” - Bishop Gérald Caussé

 "Never look back. Look at what we still have to do" - Edward Dube

 "As you lose your life in ... service, ... Satan's temptations lose power in your life."  - Elder Richard G. Scott

 "Our understanding of God's plan and His doctrine gives us an eternal perspective." - Elder Dallin H. Oaks

 "Remember that all men have their fears, but those who face their fears with dignity have courage as well." - Elder Dallin H Oaks

"Spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of the heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing"  -Elder David A. Bednar

Best!!!

"doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith" - Dieter F Uchtdorf 

My District on our way to Conference

Well as for the rest of the week, it has been a crazy mess! Sunday was a crazy mess after conference. ALL, like everyone, in my zone was leaving to the field on Monday. Since we are the only district staying, we helped out everyone as much as we could. Many were scrambling to pack their bags and make wait. ;) haha  

Well Monday morning came..... it was a joyous day!!! I was able to walk up with the first group leaving at 6 and help Elder Howe, the one with the broken elbows. The rest of the morning went about the same, a group left at 11 and then at 1. With each one, we said our goodbyes, took some pics, and wrote in each others' journals. It was so awesome to see them so excited to get into the field!

Farewell to my zone brothers

Well, everyone was off and I was alone.... literally. NO ELDERS in my zone. Which means no elders on the same schedule as me. At first I thought it was going to be awesome having some real alone time.... but no, it sucked. I felt so alone, like never before, no one to talk to.  

I know that this was all a learning experience though. It forced me to kneel in prayer and asked for comfort, something I have never really done before. I definitely found the power of prayer to be amazing! So after having lots of time alone, the sister and I meet up for our last "study session" before we all went to bed. SISTER MISSIONARIES ARE THE BEST! I love these sister so much. They turned my scared attitude into one of hope and comfort. I know that I couldn't have made it through this experience without them, I am meant to be here with them at this time!

Well on Tuesday we found out some big news! WE WERE MOVING ON WEDNESDAY. Wow, now you understand the title of this blog. I really felt like a pioneer, having to pack everything up so fast. We found out at 5 o'clock at night and had to get packed and moved out by the next day at noon. So now, my district and I are back at main campus for the remainder of our time here.... we hope :/ I do have a new Address/unit number so check that :)  

On the move again

Elder Young unit 260

Oct 21 PHI-BAC

2011 N 900 E

Provo, Ut 84602

I also got the opportunity to welcome in the new international missionaries to our zone. There were about 16 of them. From New Zealand, Australia, India, Kitabus, Canada, Tonga, and Samoa. It was cool to meet them all and hopefully they felt less worried after :/ We got the rest of our 50 new missionaries yesterday (Wednesday) so that is good. New people = Bigger social life after mission, haha..... NOT! I meet the rest of my zone on Wednesday which was way cool.There are some awesome elders going to serve in the Philippines. I will update you more on my roomates half companions when I finally learn stuff about them, haha. Well I am excited to be at the MTC, I am mad that I am back at the main campus, but I have become more excited to go to the Philippines since being here!  

Oh and if you have time, plz watch this: http://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-03-005-same-jersey?category=mormon-messages/mormon-messages-2011   We are all on the same team.

Lets stand together as friends and families to strengthen each other!   I

Love you all and hope life is going well for you back home or wherever you are! I would love a Starbucks Vanilla Frap before I go if someone wants to bring me one :) HA HA HA Good luck in life errrbody