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