Monday, January 30, 2017

A Letter from Elder Albrechtson

January 29, 2017 Werribee

Good morning. So remember last email I was talking about a family? Kevin, Stella, and Tristan? Well it turns out his name is Gavin, not Kevin... So that was embarrassing. But Guess what? They are awesome!! Gavin and Stella came to church, and all three are reading the Book of Mormon and really praying to know if it is true. They all said that as soon as they know it's true, they will be baptized. So pray for them to receive their answers!

This week has been really good. Much finding, much teaching. I love that we are teaching people now! So far, no one progressing too much, but I am sure it will happen soon!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMY JANE CHAPPELL!!!!!!!!! I can't believe you are 14 years old. I still think of you as 12. But I hope you enjoyed your birthday!

So this week Elder S. Gifford Nielson of the Seventy came to our mission and we had a zone conference with him, and then a special MLC with him. It was amazing and inspiring. Elder Albrechtsen and I have been super inspired and we are making some awesome changes in our work, especially our studies. I love studying in the morning. I am sure none of you back home believe that, but all throughout my mission I have loved studying the scriptures, and now I am finally loving studying the Preach My Gospel! It is amazing. I am learning so much more than I have from it before because I am really delving into it, not just staying on the surface. 

Fun story, yesterday was Sunday, and Islanders love to have big meals on Sunday, and love to invite the Elders to them. So we had a lunch and a dinner. Our lunch pushed it back to 3 o'clock, which was bad cause we had dinner at 5. So we had two Tongan feeds right within 3 hours. Without going into too many juicy details, halfway through the second meal, the first one decided it didn't want to stay in my belly, so I got up and went to the bathroom and did what I had only done once before in my mission, and threw it all up into the toilet. But this was really a blessing in disguise because I could then eat heaps while my companion was dying! Ha! Blessings. 

Well, that was basically the week. It was great. 

I love you all!

Elder Chappell
Elder Chappell, Elder Albrechtson, and Elder and Sister Gifford Nielsen

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Pictures from last fall

Thanks to SIster Vidmar, and Facebook, I have new (old) photos of Calvin.  Most of them are from MLC- Mission Leader Conferences, a few are from transfers.  Most have Calvin pulling funny faces.  All of them make me miss my boy even more.











Sunday, January 22, 2017

January 22, 2017 Werribee

G'day everybody! 

I apologize for the lame emails the last few weeks. It is kind of funny when your P-days are just as stressful and busy as your proselyting days. But today we gave ourselves time to email! 

Happy birthday to my favorite sister!  Wow I can't believe Amy will be 14. That's Crazy. Isn't she 9 now? Weird, I guess that must mean I'm getting older too.

So this whole transfer, we have been really struggling to find people to teach, or just to teach anyone in general! We were really getting pretty discouraged, but we gained some strength from the story of the Sons of Mosiah who had so much success in their missions. The scripture says that "they had given themselves to much fasting and prayer". We knew we had given ourselves to much prayer, but we decided that we needed to give ourselves to much fasting as well. So we chose Thursday as our day to fast. We fasted with some mighty prayer and some real intent, and what do ya know? God actually means what He says! From Thursday to Sunday, we taught 10 investigator lessons, where as we have spent entire weeks teaching only 2! So that was a huge miracle. 

I would love to tell you about every single one of those people, but for now, I will just tell you about Kevin and his family. So we met Kevin a few weeks ago and we have seen him a few times. He is about 50 something and he was raised as a Jehovah's witness. He hasn't gone to church in a long time though. So anyway, on Thursday was the first time we got to actually sit down and have a lesson with him! He invited us straight in and we sat down and he, his wife Stella, and his 15 year old son Tristan talked with us. Stella had so many questions!!!!!! She just kept shooting them off at us, but they were sincere questions. She has been in many churches and has never found one she totally agrees with. They are all really willing to genuinely search to know if this is true. They want to have a weekly lesson, and they are going to read the Book of Mormon and pray to know if it is true. We are so excited to see as they receive their answers and decide to change.

Yeah this was one of the coolest weeks of my mission. So at the Australian Open, We didn't have tickets in to see the big name players, but we did get to go into one of the smaller arenas (still pretty massive) and watch an Aussie. The Aussies are super supportive of their country. So we watched two Aussies. We only got to see women’s matches, but that's ok, they were still awesome. I attached one picture that shows how incredibly athletic they are!  I want to get into tennis now.  We also had some visitors to our flat this week.  We’ve caught four now, but there are still more hiding someplace.
The scripture that really inspired me this week is 2 Nephi 27:23

"For behold, I am God; and I am a God of miracles; and I will show unto the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; and I work not among the children of men save it be according to their faith."

Truth. 

I love you all!


Elder Chappell. 





Sunday, January 15, 2017

January 15, 2017 Werribee

Sunday, January 8, 2017

January 8, 2017 Werribee

Good Morning everybody! 
Sorry this will be a short one, but my week was great! I am really loving it. It has been super super hot, and we have no air con, so we are dying, but today is cooler so all good :) We have just been finding new people to teach, and actually had some awesome success!
MIRACLE TIME!!! So the Melton Elders in our zone texted us a referral one day, and we went to visit them right away. Turns out this guy gave them the wrong address, but we talked to the Lady there anyway!. She is Burmese, but then moved to Thailand, and then Australia. (that is a very common thing to find). Her name is Moonah. She was super nice, but her English wasn't the best and communication was difficult. (Burmese people speak a language called Karen pronounced like Kuh-Ren, which brings my "Languages of people I've taught" list up to 36) So we set an appointment and left. We came back for the appointment a few days later and we got to sit and teach her and her daughter, while the Father and Brother were in and out. The Daughter is named Amy but she spells it Aimi. She speaks both languages perfectly so she really helped the communication. They are awesome! We taught the Restoration and they loved it! They go to a Karen church just close to our flat, and so we will have to try to convince them to come check out our church sometime. But they totally accepted everything we said. We are going to get some Karen pamphlets and copies of the Book of Mormon for them. We really feel like they have potential!
We are also teaching lot's of part member families, and we aren't yet sure who is progressing and who isn't so we will keep you updated!
Also, President Vidmar gave me and my companion permission to go to the Australian Open on our next P-Day, so we may or may not email next week. I am super excited!
Anyway, Love you all!
Elder Chappell

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

January 3, 2017 Werribee

Since the last two p-days have fallen on national holidays Elder Chappell hasn’t written to us, which is so sad for this mom.  But I just found this note from a sister in his ward a few transfers ago, back in September.  It was a sweet note that describes Calvin very well.  We are so thankful that he is living and loving his mission well.  He is a good example of Christ!
Enjoy,
Cassie

Hello Sis Chappell, My name is Sis Stafford from Victoria where your son is currently serving his mission.   I had the great privilege of having Elder Chappell and his companion Elder Van Wagoner in my home for dinner tonight (back in September) and I wanted to thank you for the sacrifice of having your son so far from home and walking among strangers.  This is the fourth time that I have had your son come for a meal and each time I feel more uplifted and whole.   He and Elder Van Wagoner are such a dynamic companionship.   Their pairing is truly inspired.  They get on so well and make you feel so at ease and like you're the most important person in the world.  Elder Chappell is much more comfortable and animated with his new companion or maybe it's that he is feeling more settled, I cannot say, but this can be a very difficult area to serve but he is serving with spirit, dedication and enthusiasm.   I can see that he is destined to become one of my special missionaries.   One who has touched my heart in a very special and rewarding way.   He has also had an impact on my eldest son who was living here with me again until just recently.  My son turned 38 at the end of August and has been inactive since 1996. But since your son came he has begun reading his scriptures again and although he hasn't yet returned to Church he has acknowledged to several of his friends that he is a member of the Church.  The first night Elder Chappell came with Elder Jeremiah, my son came out of his room and sat with us during dinner instead of eating on his own in his room.   He is much loved by all of us in Primary and by our own very outspoken but treasured librarian, Sis Miller.   Your son is very special and bears his Priesthood with diligence, dedication and humility.  Be assured that he is walking in the Savior's footsteps and he and his companion are wonderful in their commitment to the work.  This mother's heart is thankful for your love and sacrifice.  I'm not sure where Elder Chappell is now as there has been another transfer since Christmas and I am still away, but I certainly still miss him and think of him often.   He's a very special young man. I named him and Elder Van Wagoner 'the dynamic duo', they were such a hardworking and powerful companionship.  I wish you all a very Happy New Year and happiness always.