July 18, 2017 Frankston

Well, this is it. The last email of the mish. It sure doesn't feel like it. It does not feel like I will be on a plane home a week from now. It doesn't feel like I will ever really leave Australia, that I will ever stop being a missionary. Everyone asks how I feel about finishing my mission. I never know how to answer. I feel excited, I feel sad, but most of all I just feel like it's not real, I am just dreaming, and soon I'll wake up and I'll still have a year to go on my mission.

What have I learned on my mission? I have learned a lot. (Aussies say 'learnt', not learned, so you could say I've learnt heaps). I have learned that when you think only about yourself, you struggle, but if you lose yourself in the service of others, you succeed. I learned that anything worthwhile in this life takes effort, or pain, or some sort of cost. My mission was hard. I had so many hard times. But I wouldn't trade it for anything. I think it is the most valuable decision I have ever made. I have learned that God visits his children in their afflictions. In my times of need and in my investigators' times of need, He has answered our prayers. I have learned that the Book of Mormon is absolutely God's word. I have had my testimony challenged again and again. I have had it shaken. But I cannot deny the feelings I have had as I have read the Book of Mormon. I know it is true.

I feel like Ammon felt after his mission. I have been so blessed by God.

"Therefore, let us glory, yea, we will glory in the Lord; yea, we will rejoice, for our joy is full; yea, we will praise our God forever. Behold, who can glory too much in the Lord? Yea, who can say too much of his great power, and of his mercy, and of his long-suffering towards the children of men? Behold, I say unto you, I cannot say the smallest part which I feel." Alma 26:16

I am amazed at the great power and mercy and long-suffering God has towards all of us. Here is something that happened yesterday that puts me in awe. We went to go and visit a woman named Nikki. We met her on our first day in Frankston, almost 3 months ago. We didn't know who to see, so what did we do? We knocked a few doors. We just walked around for a little while then felt strongly that we needed to knock on a particular street. She was the last door on the first street we ever knocked in this area. She told us that it was a really bad time but we could try again later. So we tried again the next week, and it was another bad time. We thought she probably just wasn't interested, so we didn't try her again until 4 days ago. AGAIN, she told us it was a bad time, and we could come back on Tuesday. So we went back, and... MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!

She shared with us everything. She is a single Mum with one 4 year old daughter, taking on the world with her. She was always a Christian. She always had faith in God and relied on Him for everything. Then a few years ago something awful happened, and she felt God had abandoned her. She told Him that she wanted nothing to do with Him anymore. And since then, she avoided anything having to do with God. Then after some years, her heart started to change. She actually began to pray again, but as she did, she felt so guilty about what she had said to her Father in Heaven, that she wasn't sure if she should keep praying. Then, we knocked on her door. She said that when we did, her first thought was to slam the door shut, but something constrained her. She told us to come back. Then after 2-3 months, when we spoke to her again yesterday, and she told us all of this. "I wanted to talk to you guys because... well... I don't know why. But I feel like I need to." We testified to her with all of our hearts that God does love her. He never abandoned her. He led us to her street, and He told her to let us come back.

I know God loves every one of His children. I know He is always reaching out to us. I know He was watching over Nikki all of that time, and He is watching over every one of us.

"But behold, my beloved brethren, I came into the Land Down Under with the intent that perhaps I might save some few of the Aussies. Now when my heart was depressed, and I was about to turn back, behold, the Lord comforted me, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Aussies, and bear with patience thine afflictions, and I will give unto you success. And now behold, I have come, and been forth amongst them; and I have been patient in my sufferings, and I have suffered every privation; yea, I have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God. And I have entered into their houses and taught them, and I have taught them in their streets; yea, and I have taught them upon their hills; and I have also entered into the Outback and taught them; and I have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon my cheek; and through the power and wisdom of God I have been delivered again. And I have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps I might be the means of saving some soul; and I supposed that my joy would be full if perhaps I could be the means of saving some. Now behold, I can look forth and see the fruits of my labors; and are they few? I say unto you, Nay, they are many." Alma 26:26-31 ...sort of (Calvin 26:26-31)

And I make an end of my writing upon these emails, which writing has been small, with few photographs; and to the reader I bid farewell, hoping that many of my brethren may read my words. Brethren, adieu.

Final Pictures from the Mission

These are the final pictures that I found on the Mission group from Facebook.  I think they were from his final MLC where he shared his departing testimony.  I believe the small group is the missionaries who will be going home at the time Calvin does.

July 11, 2017 Frankston

Hello everybody.

This week was another blur. I am struggling to even think of what happened this week.

Let's see. We were invited to the MLC so I could give a departing testimony, which was weird. I have seen so many Elders and Sisters give those testimonies, and I never thought about it being me one day. But that happened. There was a massive youth basketball competition on Saturday. It was awesome. Stakes compete against each other and and some of them drove for hours to get to it! I was invited to be on the Missionary team, which was really fun.  The Basketball was awesome! It was meant to be 3 on 3 but it became 5 on 5. I swear every member of the church in Melbourne was there. The missionaries just played against each other as kind of half time entertainment, and then we were the official scorekeepers for the youth games. I was the top scorer 😎 Then on Sunday there was a connected fireside, which had President Vidmar: Our Olympic Gold and Silver Medalist Mission President, Some really cool guy who is a catholic, and played Australian Rules Football,. and Elder Smiler, a fellow missionary (back row, second from the left in the photo) who played for New Zealand's national team. (In the game I threw an off the backboard alley-oop to him and he dunked it at the buzzer. It was pretty sweet.) It was a cool fireside.

Those were the highlights of the week. The rest of the time we spent knock knock knock on everyone's doors. (hey, hey, heyeeyayayee)

That's all folks!

Next week I'll do a great email. Probably. But Hey! Look at me I am sending a photo. I think it's been months since I last did that, so be thankful.

Love you!

Elder Chappell

July 6, 2017 Frankston

Hello world!

This week has been another fast one. I think they are getting progressively faster. Every day when we get to our dinner appointment we are asked how are day has been, and every day we answer that it has been fast.

Not too much news from the area this week. We did begin teaching a part member family. He is a member, and she is not. She is from the Philippines, and they just got married last week! We are excited about them cause there seems to be awesome potential with them.

Other than that, it has just been super fast! You may be wondering why the title of my email is "dear John'd". No it wasn't a girl. It was Gordon Hayward. He left the Utah Jazz!! Noooooooooooooo! He almost waited the full two years for me, but it was just too long for him, and he saw the beautiful Boston Celtics walking by and left me for them. How could he. Oh well. I wish him the best. What ever will make him the happiest...sigh... Dear John'd with 3 weeks left.

Anyway, that's all for now! Next week I will finally be back to a Wednesday email, so Tuesday for you guys!

Till then.

Elder Chappell

Oh one more cool thing. The Stakes in Melbourne have been having youth 3 on 3 basketball competitions and now they are having the big one this Saturday. It has been run kind of by the missionaries and so they have gotten the 6 best basketball players in the mission to form two teams and compete against the youth, so I have been chosen! So this Saturday I'll be ballin all morning! It's gonna be fun. Pretty casual, but fun. Kind of like our church ball back home. But the young men have done really well at inviting their non member friends so that will be a good missionary opportunity!  One of our zone leaders is gonna be playing too. He actually played for the Australian National under 20's team.

June 26, 2017 Frankston

Well, this week has been awesome. 

Roger was baptized this week, Sorry I don't have photo's cause I left my camera in the car during the baptism, but another Elder took photos, so I should be able to send them next week. But anyway, Roger is 71 and in a wheelchair, so that was a big question mark for us, how are we gonna get him baptized? It all worked out smoothly though! He stood up and walked, with a lot of support down into the font. My companion and I, with another member in the ward were in the font with him. The member did the baptism, but we helped him back up and out. It was awesome!

Other than that, it's been a great week. Our bishop has told us about a couple of part member families that we are hoping to start working with soon. So we are excited for the future. 

I love you all!

Elder Chappell

June 20, 2017 Frankston

Hello everybody!

This week has been another fast one! The days are just shooting by like hours. We did a lot of finding, and it has been a struggle lately. We are working with the members heaps, and doing our own finding heaps, but so far neither have yielded many results. We aren't getting discouraged about it though, we know the investigators will come. Sometimes it is after the trial of faith!

We had a really great Zone Conference yesterday. What I got out of it is that in order to grow, we need to step outside of our comfort zone. I remember being told that in the MTC. "There is no growth in a comfort zone, and there is no comfort in a growth zone." That was reiterated to me yesterday. In the mission field, we may have times where we start to feel comfortable because it's not new anymore, but we need to always continue to stretch ourselves, so that we can continue to grow! We are never good enough!

Roger will be getting baptized this Saturday. We are super excited. KEEEEEEEEEEEEN. Roger is awesome. We are so happy.

But... the one new investigator we started teaching this week.... was awesome! So his name is Liam. He is 18, and works at KFC. My companion and I happen to really enjoy KFC, so that may or may not have been the place where we originally met Liam. We probably saw him a good 5 times when he was working at KFC, before he randomly showed up at church on Sunday! The reason is that there is also a member working there who he happens to be dating. When we went there, she would wave and say hi to us, and then he started to ask her questions about who we are and things like that, which got them to a religious discussion which led to him coming to church! He has now been twice, and then we organized an appointment and taught him yesterday. He is cool!


Happy Fathers Day! Thank you Dad for everything you do. I know I am so blessed to have a father like you.

Have a great week everyone!

Elder Chappell

June 15, 2017 Frankston

Well good eventide everyone. This week has been really fast, even though the work is going a bit slow. Go figure. We are really trying to find new people to teach and have found one or two, but not much real progression happening. Mostly we are just teaching old people! Honestly we spent more time with people over 80 this week than with any other age group! It was great.

Roger is still awesome. He is doing great! We are excited for his baptism.

Sorry I have to cut it super short today, but maybe this way everyone who normally skims the email will actually read it! Ha!

Shout out to Big Joe Eddy for finishing his mission. He is a legend and I love him. What a guy.

Love you all!

Elder Calvin Chappell

June 6, 2017 Frankston

This week has been awesome. Last week I talked about Roger, and how he wants to be baptized. Well, this week he is even stronger. We have seen him every day, and he came to church on Sunday and is developing friendships with the members. The greatest thing though is how he is changing his life. He has been in a wheelchair for years. In fact, he hasn't stood up on his feet in two full years. But this week one day we sat down with him, and out of nowhere he just says, "Watch this." and he stood up and took a few steps! He has also been reaching out to his family who is scattered across the globe and speaking to them, even though they haven't spoken in years. He is making real changes in his life. 

Other than that, the week has just gone super fast. We are still trying to find new investigators and struggling a bit with that, but they will come. 

Happy birthday Brent, and I am sorry to hear about your allergy to falling down. That is truly unfortunate for someone as clumsy as you ;) teehee

Love you all!

Elder Chappell

Some Photos from the Mission

 Calvin's Zone

May Birthdays

 Teaching at Golden Review

 Elder Pulalasi and Elder Chappell

May 31, 2017 Frankston

Well this will be really quick, but we had an awesome miracle this week!

A man named Roger contacted the church and wanted missionaries. He is an old man from Italy who is now living in a rest home. He has two sons in England who are members of the church, and he wants to learn about it. We have been seeing him everyday since then and he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying. When we invited him to be baptized, he said he would have to think about it. So we invited him to pray specifically about it. The next day when we came, he sat us down and told us immediately, "I would like to get baptized". He prayed about it, then that night he had a dream of being baptized by us in the church. Miracles Happen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry I have been talking to the other Elders too much during my email time and I ran out of time... that's why it's short.

Love you all!

Elder Chappell!

May 21, 2017 Frankston

Good morning people!

This week has been awesome. My companion is awesome. We actually get along super well. He is funny. Yes the work in the area has started slow, but it is picking up. Actually, I think these last three weeks have been the fastest 3 of my mission. I feel like the transfer just started, and it's halfway over.
So we are still just trying to figure out this area and trying to find people to teach, and it has been a bit of a struggle, but then we had a miracle! Sister Gray from the mission office called us one day and told us that we have 5 referrals from mormon.org of people that requested copies of the Book of Mormon. They were actually old, from February, but because of a hiccup in the system, they didn't get to us until now! So we went to them right away!

...THEY ACTUALLY WANTED THE BOOK OF MORMON!!! That was a very new thing for me. It was amazing. There were 3 of the 5 that are now investigators for us and really promising! So we are really excited about that.

That is mostly the news for this week. It has been a very fast week. I feel like I emailed two days ago, not a week ago. Time is going super fast. Oh I will be emailing on Wednesdays from now on! (Tuesday evenings for all you Americans) P day has been changed.

Shout outs: Shout out to Kathryn Spackman, Happy 20th! Shout out to Ashlyn Grange, congrats on your engagement! Shout out to Kanaue, because why not? And, last but not least, shout out to Brent Chappell, because this week I went to a public toilet, and someone had graffiti'd the name Brent all over the urinals.

Love you all!

Elder Chappell

May 14, 2017 Frankston

Good morning sweet world.

This week has been pretty solid. We are just trying to build this area up from nothing, and it is taking some time, but I guess that's to be expected. We are starting off with all the part member families in the ward, and so far, no luck, but we haven't been able to meet all of them yet.

MIRACLE TIME!!!!!
So we were going around doing our thing, trying to visit the part member families, and we went to go see this one family in the evening, so it was dark outside. We got out of the car and began walking to the house, and there was one other guy on the road. Of course, he was a dodgy looking guy with a big beard. But we just said hi to him anyway, and he stopped in his tracks and said "missionaries?" When we see signs of recognition, we get so excited. So turns out he is a member from Queensland, who came down to Melbourne to visit his brother and sister who both live in Frankston. He was walking to his sister's house, because she was sick. He said she might want a blessing, but she's not a member, so he decided to just take our number and go ask her, then call us. So we went on our merry way. Within 15 minutes he called us and said that she and her partner both wanted blessings! So we rushed over there. We ended up talking to this family for about an hour. Their names are Will and Bec. They are looking for a church right now! They are honest seekers of the truth, and they loved what they heard from us. Bec is especially excited to read the Book of Mormon. Will had about 10000 questions. It was great. And the funny thing is, the family we had originally been trying to see, didn't even live at that address anymore, so we know we were led there for Will and Bec!

I turned 20 this week! That was weird to think. Thanks Mom for sending the cake mix, I made it and it actually tasted really good! I don't think I've ever done that before. Birthday miracles.

Happy mothers day to all the moms! Or "mums" as they say here. I love you Mom!

Farewell, and Godspeed.

Elder Chappell

May 7, 2017 Frankston

(Elder Chappell sent a voice recording this week instead of a group email.  You can listen if you want...they are a little silly at times.  But we love hearing his voice, and getting to know his new companion a little.  It is neat to hear the Australian/Samoan accent.)

Hi Mom,  So I am in Frankston with Elder Pulalasi, a new missionary that I am training.  He is Samoan, from Brisbane Australia.  He is awesome.  I don't even feel like I am training him!  He came pre-trained I swear.  The ward is AWESOME.  Honestly they are so into missionary work.  The last elders in this area were...struggling.  So we are basically starting from scratch.  But the investigators will come soon.  The ward is happy to have us which is awesome.  You can send this one out as the weekly email, cause to be honest, there's not that much to report this week, and I just can't be bothered typing up an email.  Congratulations to the Callaway's and their new baby.

Love you all.  Elder Chappell

April 30, 2017 Werribee

G'day wonderful people.

 

So this week was the last week of the transfer and it finished with a bang! This was honestly one of the fastest weeks of my mission. We did a lot of hard work and did find a few people. 

 

Update on Ryan and Angelika. They are still absolutely awesome. They are not going to get baptized super soon, but they are 100% getting baptized. And when they do, they will be totally prepared. They are doing more missionary work than most of the members. In church they take up an entire row, because of them and their 3 kids, Angelika's 2 nieces, Ryan's mum, and Angelika's 2 cousins. They are all coming because of the example from these two. They are making some amazing changes in their lives, and we love them. 

 

Stella is still amazing. Since her baptism, she has been on fire still. This last Saturday we had the amazing privilege to go to the temple with her and do baptisms for the dead. She did a baptism for her own mother, and it was awesome. She loved it and wants to go again! She is awesome.  Excerpt from Calvin’s companion’s email: “We had the amazing opportunity to see Stella attend the temple and do Baptisms for the dead. It was one of the coolest experiences of my mission. The spirit there was simply amazing. Stella was beaming. She was able to be baptized for her mother and a few other names the temple had for her. It was just really cool. As we talked about it after Stella said that it was such a privilege for her to be baptized for other people, she even said that she was trying to remember all the names and thinking of how much it would mean for them! So a very successful month for Stella, baptized on the 1st and then attending the temple on the 29th. In the Pacific area there is an interesting statistic about recent converts attending the temple. If a recent convert attends the temple within 30 days of their baptism there is an 80+% retention rate. If they don't there is a less than 30% retention rate. It goes to show you just how important the temple really is. It was such a great day! We are so excited for her!”

 

So, transfer news is that I will be leaving Werribee! I will be going to Frankston, (a.k.a. the armpit of Australia.) Honestly, there's a few missionaries from Queensland (northern Australia), and they say that they always hear stories about Frankston. Going to the hood! I will be training a new missionary, and I am pretty keen. So we will be doubling in, or white washing, or whatever you wanna call it. We are both going to be new to the area. I am pumped to go and just get to work and baptize nations! 

 

Sorry... I never take photos. 

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Chappell

 

P.S. Go Jazz

 

Picture: Elder Albrechtson, Elder Chappell and Stella at the temple

April 23, 2017 Werribee

Well, this week was great! 

We basically have either dropped, or been dropped by every investigator except for like 3! So this week has been full of finding. So far, the investigators are few and far between, but we know they are coming. We did find a guy named Glory who could be absolutely golden! So I will keep you posted on him. 

Ryan and Angelika are still awesome. They are doing everything they can. They are coming to church, reading as a family, praying as a family, attending the addiction recovery class, paying tithing, and making plans for their wedding! They are so cool.

So I thought I would share some of our tracting experiences from this week! In Australia, just about every door has a sign that says DO NOT KNOCK no sales people, or different variations of that. Most of them specify that they are just talking to sales people, but there are some that also call out religious representatives. Of course, we ignore all of them anyway, but there was one this week, that is very general, It just said NO DOOR KNOCKERS. So naturally, we knocked on the door. Turns out that this guy was just inside the door. So the knock scared him, and he came out with an attitude. He immediately pointed at the sign and asked, "WHAT DOES THAT SAY??" Elder Albrechtsen calmly responded that we were just the missionaries and we wanted to share a message with him and all that, but the man cut him off and repeated his question a bit louder, and Elder Albrechtsen answered his question by reading the sign. The man then went into a rage rivaled only by the Hulk, and screamed some expletives at us as we offered him a card, and walked off of his property. He was a nice guy. Maybe an hour later, an older woman answered the door wearing nothing but a towel. She told us it was not the best time. We kinda figured that, but, yeah. Oh Aussies.

So that's this week! 

Sorry I don't ever take photos... my bad.

Love you all!

Elder Chappell

April 9, 2017 Werribee

Good eventide people.

This week was a roller coaster ride! 

So I'll just get right into the meat and potatoes of it. There's an investigator couple named Ryan and Angelika. They are a young couple from New Zealand with 3 young kids. Angelika was raised by non member parents, but her grandmother was a member of the church and took her to church regularly as a child. She was never baptized and since then has had a hard life and she and Ryan were "not very close to God" as she said it. Some time last month, they both realized that the way they were living was not getting them anywhere. They felt lost and meaningless. So Angelika decided to go to church for the first time in years. She thought that Ryan would not be interested at all, but after one week, they were both going together. Then after two, they were bringing the kids along. Pretty soon, we were meeting with them. These two are amazing. They are seeing and feeling the Gospel working in their lives and they are putting the effort into it. They are reading the Book of Mormon and Praying as a family daily. They are coming to church every week. They already knew about the temple sealing, and told us that was their goal. They now have a picture of the Melbourne temple on their wall, with words that say "Family is forever". We invited them to be baptized, and they were super excited and said yes! We knew they were living together out of wedlock (just like every couple in this country), so we explained about the Law of Chastity and how they would need to be married before the baptism. Ryan was all for it, but Angelika looked a little hesitant. They told us they'd talk about it and get back to us. The next day, guess what? They told us they were getting married and baptized on the 27th of May! Wooooooot! Could anybody possibly be this converted???

Well, nothing is perfect, so the day after that, we went to visit, and Ryan was the only one home. He explained to us that he and Angelika were both addicted to a few things, and they had decided to stop cold turkey that day, and the withdrawals brought out tempers and they had had a huge argument. As we were sitting talking, Angelika came back home, and she was fuming. She was so angry at him, and Ryan asked us politely to leave, while they began yelling at eachother. As we were leaving we heard some harsh things of how they no longer want to be married. Well, we were heartbroken. 

but...... MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!!!!! Sunday Morning Session of General Conference comes up, and the whole family came! They came to both sessions and we went to visit afterwards. They apologized for how they argued in front of us, and explained that they still very much want to be married, baptized, and eventually sealed. They really connected with some of the talks in Conference, and they felt the Spirit so strong. We contacted the Bishop immediately and set up a time for them to talk to him about marrying them! 

God has been helping them so much. He will continue to help them as they fight against their addictions, continue to repent and come unto Christ. It is amazing for us to be able to be a part of their journey. Their wedding and Baptism will be on June 3rd. Their sealing will be a year later. 

So that's my week! General Conference was awesome by the way. Holy Goodness I loved it. 

Have a great week! 

Elder Chappell

(us with Ryan and Angelika, with their kids, Rhyze, and Rhavenblue. Their middle one, Rhavaybreeze, is not in the picture)

April 2, 2017 Werribee

Good afternoon people! 

This week has been pretty miraculous. 

The biggest miracle was definitely that Stella was baptized and confirmed this week! She has definitely been the most converted convert I've had on the mission. She is amazing. So her baptism went well. Brother Letalu, our ward mission leader baptized her, and the Bishop confirmed her. 

So on Sunday, we had Gospel Principles class, and the topic was Faith. The teacher asked anyone to share an example of faith in their lives, and Stella raised her hand. She said that when we came to her door, she felt something different. She said that there had been so many people that have come to her door before, but there was something different about us. So she decided to give it a shot. Then she started hearing what we were saying, and we seemed to have the answers to all of her questions. She said that she was praying everyday to know if she should keep following this, if the Book of Mormon was true, if she should get baptized, etc... and in her words, "well, here I am!" That was so awesome for us to hear. It's been amazing watching her journey to gain a testimony and get baptized. 

Now time to get here to the Temple :) 

Now for another MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!!!

Immediately after the baptism, we had an appointment with a man named Mark, who I had never met before, but my companions met him one time on exchanges just the day before. He lives right around the corner from us and he is awesome! We taught him the Restoration and he just ate it up! He understood and loved it! He accepted to be baptized on the 29th of April. It was amazing.

Probably the biggest thing I've learned in my mission, and reemphasized this week is that God's hand is in everybody's lives. He is leading people like Stella and Mark to the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and at the same time, he is leading people like me and my companions to success in sharing the Gospel in the times that we need it the most. His plan is perfect.

Chappell out. 

Mission Leader Conference

Zone Conference and Flu shots.

Stella's baptism!

March 26, 2017 Werribee

Well this week we gave birth! Elder Albrechtsen and I have a brand new son named Elder Gifford! He is awesome. Super hard worker, super motivated. He is great.  Elder Gifford, originally from Idaho, but moved to Colorado a year ago as his Dad was called as a Mission President there. He has so much enthusiasm and effort. When we are planning, or eating lunch, Elder Albrechtsen and I are enjoying the little rest until we go to work, but Elder Gifford is just itching to get out there. It pushes me to work harder because I remember that's how I used to be. So we are trying to keep up with him! 

Stella is preparing for her baptism this week and she is totally ready! We have been working with her for a long time and we are super excited for the baptism! 

We are really trying to find new investigators this week, cause after Stella is baptized, we won't have too many people to work with. So we are gonna be going hard on finding! 

The week was crazy though. On Tuesday, it was transfer day, and we took a missionary to the mission office because he was going home, then we took the Tongan Elders to their new areas and took another elder's bags to a random train station where his new zone leaders were picking them up. Too much driving. Then we had a normal day on Wednesday, then Thursday was the day to pick up the Goldens, so we were there for heaps of meetings, then got home in the evening, then woke up early on Friday and took Elder Gifford to some other missionaries on his first day while we went back to the mission office for MLC! 😪 Too much driving. 

So that was our week!  Looking forward to next week! 

Love you heaps, 

-Elder Chappell

Us in our Lava lavas, eating some traditional Chinese hot pots, and our son with jet lag. Just couldn't wait till 10:30.  And our MTC boy band.

March 19, 2017 Werribee

Good morning wonderful people.

This week has been pretty awesome. We saw Gavin and Stella on Thursday with our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Letalu, and it was awesome! She is super ready for baptism and Brother Letalu is awesome fellowship for both of them. He will baptize Stella on the 1st. 

There are so many people in our area that are really solid investigators, but something is holding them back, whether it is living with a partner and not married, or not being able to come to church because of work, or something else. So there is so much potential! We know that God will provide miracles in the lives of these people. We just need to keep doing our best and it will happen. 

So this whole week I have kinda been stressing about the transfer news, if I'll be staying or going. I've been here almost 6 months as it is, so I thought I might leave. Of course, the news came a day late so we could build up a good amount of anticipation and worry, and lo and behold, we are both staying!!!! Woot! I love serving with Elder Albrechtsen, I love Werribee, and I am so excited to go super hard for another transfer here. Also, we will be training a new missionary! We don't know who he is yet, we won't find out until Thursday, but we are super excited! The only problem is again figuring out how to fit 3 people in our tiny flat...

So that's the news from down under! We are super happy and excited for the next 6 weeks!

Elder Chappell

pics: Elder Albrechtsen sleeping on the bus, us wearing our zone shirts on top of a mountain. (really a hill)

March 12, 2017 Werribee

Good eventide everybody.

This week has been a good one! There is a lot of potential in our area! This week we didn't have too much success in finding people and teaching them, but we've been given a few referrals and know about a few people that we've been trying to visit, so we are predicting next week will be an explosion of success.

Gavin and Stella are still awesome. They came to church for the 7th time in a row, and their son Tristan came with them! Stella is totally solid for her baptism on the 1st. It just seems like so far away! We are really hoping Gavin and also Tristan will catch the Spirit of the gospel like Stella has, and to a degree they have, but we just hope it will happen a bit faster. But in the words of the famous philosopher Mick Jagger, "you can't always get what you want."

Not too much news to report on this week. We had exchanges with the Assistants, which was good. We ate heaps of Tongan food, which was good. We've been exercising like crazy in the mornings, which is good.

So... yep!

If anyone wants to get motivated to share the gospel, go read D&C 33. Elder Albrechtsen and I have gained so much motivation from those words.


Have a fantastic week!

Elder Chappell

March 5, 2017 Werribee

Good morning sweet world, and welcome to the weekly report from the Land Down Under. This week was pretty great. In fact, it was pretty miraculous. 

I can't believe it's been a week since I last emailed! That feels like two days ago tops. But it's been awesome. So we finally started finding new investigators again! There's a family from the Congo that we met this week and began teaching. They are awesome! They speak French and Swahili, and their English is so so. The cool thing is that we got to go to the Temple as a zone this week, (which is an awesome thing in and of itself) so we got to get supplies from the mission office as well, and we grabbed all the french and Swahili stuff that we could find, then brought it back and taught them that same day! Using the Book of Mormon in their languages helped so much. Also, they have 3 little kids. The two boys were playing with one of those Rubik's Snakes, and I showed them how to make it into a ball which they thought was pretty cool, and their 2 year old little sister is the most adorable little girl in the world. So that was fun. 

MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There were heaps of miracles this week. I will just skip to Sunday (yesterday for me, today for you) because that was such an awesome day. 

Gavin and Stella came to church again! They are so awesome. Stella is still set for baptism, and super prepared. We changed her date to the 1st of April though, because she felt nervous for it, and we agreed that she needs more fellowship and more experience with the Gospel first. Anyway, they came to church and Stella is still so awesome. She paid tithing!! 

So let me tell you about the Gospel Principles class. Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Letalu had a lesson prepared about the Priesthood Organization. As people started coming in to class, he realized that there were 4 non-members there! (woooooooo!) So he came to Elder Albrechtsen and I and asked us to teach the lesson about the Atonement that we had taught a couple weeks ago, cause that was probably a better topic for the people there. So on the spot we decided to teach! Man, the Spirit totally carried that lesson! Everybody was participating and it was awesome! So Gavin and Stella enjoyed it, and there was this Sister who came for the first time with her friend, and she was crying at the end of the lesson! She was totally in tears. So that was cool. We will keep you posted on how things go with her. Her name is Deborah by the way. 

After Church we had a lesson with a new investigator named Emma. She is a 14 year old, and her grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins are all active members in the ward. She wants to get baptized, but her birth dad is not too keen. So we'll keep you updated.

At the end of the evening, we had 20 minutes left in the day, so we decided to just pull over and pray about who we should see. So we did. The name came to us of the Strickland family. I have tried to see this family probably 500 billion times and never have had a real conversation with them. So when that prompting came, I kinda thought, no I don't want to waste another visit. But we listened to the Spirit and went. Well, what do ya know, the Spirit knows what He's talking about! We talked to the father of this family, who is not a member, and he is super keen for us to come by and teach his family! We set up an appointment, had a good chat, and then left. It was pretty awesome.

That's mostly it. 

We went to the southern most part of our area, which has the beach on it, and here's me being a rebel and touching the water. hehehehehehehehehehehehehehe😈

Love you all,

Elder Calvin Chappell