October 25, 2015 Melton North

So I got transferred! All the way from Melton South to Melton North! Yep. That means I am staying in the same flat. I packed up all of my stuff and took it all the way to Wantirna to the transfer meeting just to find out that I am going right back to Melton! I am actually super happy about that because I love Melton. I am now companions with Elder Babneau (bab-no). He was also in this flat before so I have known him for 6 weeks! It's really awesome. He is the man. He is from Idaho, and he is a convert of about 2 years. He has been serving for about 6 months. We get along really well. We also sing America songs all day
long.

We have been having heaps of success in this area! We are teaching a family that is called the Utai family. They are Samoan. The two boys, Mark and Derek want to be baptized. The rest of the family has already been baptized, but they want to take the lessons to come back to activity. So it's really cool. I love teaching families because you can see them making the choices that will help them be together for eternity.

We are also teaching a man named Gary. He is an Aussie and he has been investigating the church for ages. Literally he has been coming to church for over 3 years. We call him an Eternigator folks. But he is the man. I think he is finally realizing that he is ready for baptism. I love teaching him. He also has a 7 year old son named Ronnie. We get along well because Ronnie loves Star Wars.

I wish that everyone was a kid. I can get along with and make friends with kids so much easier than adults. And kids are just better anyway.

Oh I forgot to mention! Our flat has two new members. Elder Deng (china) and Elder Valenciano (Philippenes... again). They are both awesome. Elder Deng loves Captain America so we have fake Captain America vs. Red Skull or Cap vs. Winter Soldier battles. Good times. Shout out to my man Elder Fisher with whom I have the most legendary battles in the history of ever. One day we will fight again my friend.

So guess what else I forgot to mention? I AM DRIVING. I drove home from Wantirna on transfer day. I had to go through the city. It was crazy! "Why is driving so scary?" one might ask. One would be answered, "because it's on the left side of the road and the lanes are about 2 feet wide and people park in the middle of the road. They literally have a lane that is meant for parking and driving. So people just swerve in and out of it. But after the first day I became comfortable. The change actually came pretty naturally. I'm not worried anymore.

Well that's all folks!
Churr!
Elder Chappell

 "Elder Chappell" in Chinese

October 19, 2015 Melton

Mahal ako ng mga babae

So I am getting transferred! I don't know where I am going yet, just know that I am going. I'll find out on Tuesday and then I'll go there immediately! I'm already all packed. I wasn't expecting this at all. Elder Sifuentes also got transferred. He is needed as a zone leader somewhere so we both ended up leaving. It's a weird transfer day because all three of the greenies in the zone are being transferred. Weird eh? But I am excited to meet my new companion and new ward and new investigators! It is sad because there are 3 investigators here preparing for baptism that I won't get to be here for. But I am sure I will have success in my next area!

This morning we got up at 4 to go on a hike as a zone and watch the sunrise. The zone leaders planned it and got permission to do it. It was really fun. Again, these ain't no real mountains. But close enough.

I did an exchange earlier in the week with one of the zone leaders, Elder Parsons. He's the man. I led the area a couple of times on exchanges. I thought it would be really hard, but it wasn't bad. We tried out our new door approach. We do this when it's around dinner time. It goes like this.
"how are you?"
"Sorry mate I'm busy"
"Oh busy with what?"
"We are eating dinner."
"Oh great! Perfect timing."
*begin taking off shoes and entering*
"whoa mate what are you doing?"
"...we're eating dinner right?"
"not you!"
*look sad and disappointed*
"Oh hey have you blessed your food yet?"
"...what?"
"have you blessed your food? We can bless it for you!"

Guess how well that worked? It actually made the guy laugh and he listened to us for a while and  accepted a Book of Mormon! Haha I don't know if I will ever use that again, but it was great.

Sorry, no reports on investigators this week because it was just so crazy! We had heaps of meetings in Werribee and it takes ages to get there every time cause we have to take the train. But it is really fun because we get to talk to heaps of people on the train/bus. I also was sitting next to a woman that looked just like Scarlet Johanson with a nose ring, and a man that looked just like Hugh Jackman except he was losing his hair. I wanted to take a picture, but I don't think they would've taken that very well.

I love you all!
Have a great week!
Elder Chappell
(that subject line is Tagalog for "all of the girls love me". I learn
the important phrases.)

October 11, 2015 Melton

Hey everybody! How's life eh?

So I watched conference one week late, but it was so good! Man I loved it.  If you are wondering, I am ponderizing Romans 1:16. What about you?

So transfers are coming up soon. Next Saturday we will hear if we're getting transferred or not. I'm not worried. Go or stay, it's God's will!

So I haven't been very descriptive of the food I eat.  Since our ward is mostly Samoan, we get meals with Samoans all the time.  Here's a typical Samoan meal.  Come in, sit down, chat a bit, eat heaps of rice, chicken, and chop sui (I don't know how to spell that.) Then once you feel full, they say, "eat more elder!" "yes ma'am" then you eat until you can't eat any more. Then they bring out the main dish. (roast, lamb, more chicken, who knows).... that’s the point when you whisper to your companion, "I can't eat any more" then he laughs. Then you just have to stuff anything you can into yourself. "eat Elder!"

Honestly their number one goal in life is to make the missionaries fat. But I seriously love them! Their culture is to just give and give. Mostly food, but other stuff also. They are the best.

So I took notes for conference in a creative way so I'll send pictures of that so yous can see. I'm gonna do that for every meeting of my mission!

“N” is still progressing really well. We gave him a Samoan Book of Mormon and he is reading and enjoying! He is a bit hesitant to set a date for baptism but he will pray and get an answer so it won't be too long. There's one little girl in the ward that's about 3 years old and the cutest kid in the world. Her parents fed us one day and we became best friends. She sits by me in sacrament meeting now,  haha and guess what,  because her mom saw that Bella likes me so much, she gave us two referrals! Woot!

I am getting much more comfortable knocking on doors and street contacting.  I have always been comfortable teaching but those weren't too good. But now I actually enjoy it!

Something funny was that a drunk guy came up to us and told us all about how the Holy Ghost is his
dad... Yeah. There was also a girl that was so amazed that we didn't drink that it is now her goal to make us drink before we go home. Don't worry; I won't be accepting any water bottles from her.  We all watch conference one week later so it's still on the Saturday - Sunday schedule. Yes we have all 4 seasons here, just switched. The trees were pretty bare when I came but they pretty much have leaves now. It's
springtime here.

We live with the 4 of us. We are pretty far from the mission home. That's in Wantirna. We have to get a ride with other missionaries and we have to drive through the City to get to it. No we haven't gone to
the temple.  I have been in the parking lot plenty because the mission office is in the church that shares the parking lot with the temple.

Fun fact, most people here think that Canada is part of the US... Weird eh?

Shout out to Kathryn Spackman for starting her mission papers! You'll be called to Melbourne for sure.

Anyway, that's all for this week. Love you!
Elder Chappell

I forgot to take pictures of my Sunday notes but there’s Saturday! And
that's a random bridge and me being "not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ"

October 5, 2015 Melton

Hey everybody! How are yous? That's something that everyone here says by the way. Yous is plural for you. So how are yous? What are yous up to today? We hear that every day.
Sorry for not emailing yesterday! We had a zone P day and we played laser tag. That was super fun! But because we don't have a car we have to go by bus and train all the way to Werribee and that takes us 2
hours so we didn't have a chance to shop or email. So we get to email today but no shopping this week! We might starve.

Anyway, we are probably gonna be getting a car next transfer (in a week and a half ish) and guess who will be driving? yep. me. In Australia. On the left side of the road. Cause Elder Sifuentes doesn't
know how to drive, so I am responsible for lives! And as a missionary I'm already responsible for souls, so yeah there's just a bit of pressure. But pressure makes diamonds.. or coal becomes diamonds under
pressure, or however that saying goes. I think that's a saying anyway.

MIRACLE TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME!!!!!!!!!!!

So I think I told yous about Niko last week right? I think so. Anyway, we taught him the restoration a couple days ago, and it was the most spiritual experience ever. After we taught, we bore testimony. Then we asked him what he was thinking/feeling. He started crying and told us that he felt something in his heart. He said he knows it must be true. He said when he hears me and Elder Sifuentes bear our testimonies, he feels like even though he doesn't know everything that we do, our words explain his feelings exactly. It was amazing. He said he would do whatever we said he should, and he would believe everything we told him. (King Lamoni?) So we gave him a Book of Mormon in Samoan (his native language) and committed him to read and pray and come to church and be baptized all in one lesson. He is so prepared. And he is such a good man.

So another one of our investigators is named Luke. SPOILER ALERT when he gets baptized, that is going to be one of the biggest miracles I've ever seen. This guy has a lot of struggles. He has multiple mental illnesses. He is completely functional, lives on his own, but he is socially different. But he knows and understands just like you and me. We have been teaching him ever since I've been here. And he has improved so much. We see him at least 5 times a week, because the more we see him the better. The less Satan has an influence on him. He knows the Book of Mormon is true. He knows the church is true. We just have to make sure he quits smoking and he will be committed to the church before he can be baptized. But he is going to be baptized on the 17th! We have prayed a lot and we feel that he is finally ready. We are so excited. Please pray for him to be able to quit smoking and to have the Spirit protect him from bad influences.

So everyone here either hates or loves America. I didn't realize how patriotic I was until I got here. I have been singing America the Beautiful and the Star Spangled Banner like every day. Don't you say nothin’ bout my country. There's a sister in our ward that says she will cook us a Thanksgiving dinner one Thanksgiving! I am so happy about that. She also makes us other American food like hamburgers and
she goes to American shops to get things like root beer. It's awesome.

We didn’t get to watch conference last weekend.  We will watch it next weekend.  But we did hear about the three new apostles.  I am super excited to watch conference.  And we should be getting 5-8 investigators to watch at least parts of it so that’s gonna be amazing.  I love how conference touches each one of us in a totally different way.  It’s amazing.

Anyway, Love yous! (hehe I'm definitely using that my whole life)
Captain Australia  Elder Calvin Chappell

Pictures:

How I take notes, the temple, my future cars, a pretty sunset, and a double-decker bus.