September 25, 2016 Shepparton

Hello world. This week was awesome! I really really enjoyed it. 

I'll cut to the chase (whatever that means). This week we did heaps of finding. We decided that we are working with some promising investigators, but most of who we are teaching are not really progressing. So we need more people to teach! So we went searching for them. 

I don't always tract, but when I do, I prefer to find people to teach. That was our thing this week. We were tracting like we meant it! We chose this long street called Waranga drive, and tracted that for more than 2 full days of tracting. So in the bush, an average count of new contacts per companionship per week is maybe 3. We got 18 this week!! Woot! Some of them are really really solid. One is named Kalvin!! Obviously, he misspells his own name every time he uses it and asks all of us to misspell it along with him, so that's why I used a K. But other than that, he is a top gent. I love Kalvin. Also there was an Italian lady named Lisa. They are gonna be so awesome!

So I am excited for the coming weeks. The only problem is that this is the last week of the transfer, so I could be transferred. I have been here for 3 transfers, so it's definitely possible. I hope I stay though!

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

So remember Jana?

She moved out, is living with members, and called us saying she wants to be baptized this Friday. 

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we will be planning that and baptizing her this week! Except she is sick right now, and might have to postpone if she doesn't get better, so please pray for her!

Last week we went with some members to a wild life preserve.  It was really awesome.  I learned that kangaroos are actually really dangerous.  They punch, and have sharp claws, and have sharp teeth.  

They also lean back on their tail and kick with both their legs.  I also learned that Koalas are soft like a stuffed animal, but they are pretty boring.  A sloth would be more interesting than a koala.  We also saw wombats, Tasmanian devils, cockatoos, Imus, dingoes, (krickey a dingo!) And we saw a snake called a Southern Death Adder.  I am sure that is just come kind of animal classification, but it really should be called Life Subtract-or.

This week I learned that when you work as hard as you should be, actively seeking for the work to be done then miracles start to happen!  I am just really happy.  It was an awesome week.  It is so good to just feel like a missionary always.   

So that was my week!

Quick shout out to two of my best friends getting married! Congrats Riley and Rachael on your engagement! 

I love you all!  Have a great week!

Elder Calvin Chappell

September 18, 2016 Shepparton

Good morfterneveninight everyone! 

This week was good. We worked really hard on the zone meeting, which happened on Friday. It went so well. We got permission to use the internet to make presentations and it was awesome. We just tried to make the meeting really interactive and engaging. We did it convention workshop style and had lots of really cool hands on activities for the missionaries to learn more missionary skills. It was fun and I really hope they liked it! 

Adrian and Rebecca and their kids came to church this week, so that was awesome! Jana also came, and she is doing better. She still wants to be baptized, just not sure when. But she is awesome. 

Church was fun. Every week we teach the youth Sunday School class, and we fill in for others who need help. But this week we basically ran the church. I blessed the Sacrament, my companion played the organ, then during the second and third hours, we had to go on splits with some of the young men so that we could teach the youth, the primary, the high priests group, and another primary class. That was fun. (I'll tell ya, teaching a bunch of fathers about how to have a successful home is a funny experience when you're 19 years old and have never had a home of your own.) I love being in a branch!

The work has been crawling along these last few weeks, but it is about to start picking back up. I can feel it! 

Today we went to a wildlife park with a family in the branch. Kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, emus, dingoes, wombats, Tasmanian devils, and other fun stuff. That was cool! Here's some pictures.  (Sorry, the computer is too slow...pictures to come next week.)

Love you all!

Elder Chappell

September 11, 2016 Shepparton

Good Monday/Sunday Morning/Evening everybody! 

This week has been good. In fact, it was really awesome! We had MLC on Tuesday, which is seriously the best. My companion and I gave a training on asking questions and listening in lessons. It went really well I think. I love President and Sister Vidmar. The meeting was awesome. I was on such a Spiritual high when we were driving home. We were just excited to go work and baptize nations, when we got a call from Jana.

I'll spare you the details, but basically, Satan is a loser and threw in a satanic sucker punch (my new favorite term from Elder Holland). They were going to get married this week, but now we are not sure what's happening. They did not get married this week, and Neal is still nowhere to be found. That was really sad. (MAJOR UNDERSTATEMENT ALERT) 

But........... MIRACLE TIME!!!!!!!!!!! Even when Satan throws cheap shots, we are stronger than him because we are on the Winning Team. Take that loser! So we were planning for our zone meeting and we were making this awesome poster at Office works. One of the workers there came and talked to us, and he was totally interested! He had just joined a church and had a spiritual experience for the first time in his life and he was excited about it, so he wanted to talk to us about it, and we basically taught the whole Restoration lesson in the middle of Office Works, and he asked us for a Book of Mormon! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??? So we gave it to him like the nice guys that we are. His name is Ethan. We will talk more about him next week!

Miracle #2!!!!! This is a simple miracle. Jana came to church! We were not expecting that. But she came and it was awesome. She is really struggling, but she came anyway! So we were really happy about that. She will still be baptized! Just not sure when.

That was basically our week! It was a good one. This week is our Zone meeting that we are working our tails off for. It is gonna be awesome. 

Love you all! Have a great week! 

Elder Chappell

Here's President Vidmar's Gold and Silver Medals. And here are those cute babies from last week.

September 4, 2016 Shepparton

("Australia is entirely peopled with criminals...")

Good morning sweet world. I had no idea what to write for the subject line of this email so I went to a Princess Bride quote about Australia. Go-to movie. You're welcome.

So this week...stuff happened... I am sure stuff happened... I am struggling to think what happened though! Time is really meshing together. I can never remember what happened this week, this month, this year. Everything jumbles up in my mind. 

We are going to the  Mission Leadership Council this week and we have been asked to speak at that, plus we have a zone meeting coming up and we have big ideas for it, so we did a lot of planning this week. We are really trying to make a positive change in our mission culture and we are starting by making the mission meetings engaging! (I know, crazy idea) but we are excited.

We taught Neal and Jana this week, and they are still doing awesome. The wedding will be this Saturday, and then baptism 2 weeks later! It is awesome. 

We also saw Adrian and Rebecca. I will send a couple of pictures of their adorable twin babies. They are my favorite. Adrian and Rebecca are so awesome. We are really trying to help Rebecca feel more comfortable praying out loud, but she is praying on her own which is awesome!

Last Monday we were at the grocery store and this guy who was clearly an islander of some sort walked up to us and started talking to us. Turns out he is a member, but hasn't been in a long time. But he has been wanting to come back to church. Once he saw us he was so happy and we set an appointment to see him. We saw him later in the week. His name is Jared, and he is HUGE. Big guy. He is super cool. He wants to learn the lessons again then come to church! Yay for hiding less active members!

Today we will practice some baking and make some cinnamon rolls. Then we will drive down to Melbourne and stay overnight with some other Elders, then have MLC tomorrow morning! Should be exciting! 

Love you, Elder Chappell

August 28, 2016 Shepparton

Good morning all y'all.

This week was a week! It was pretty good, pretty average! I am honestly trying really hard to think of what to include in this email. I am sure some stuff happened... but I can't remember anything important! Sorry this might be boring.

Ok for all of you that are still reading after that amazing eye-catching intro to an email, I will tell you about the week. Elder Van Wagoner was pretty sick these last few days, so on Saturday we did absolutely nothing. He wasn't feeling well at all so we called Sister Vidmar and asked what we should do and she just said stay in the flat. So we did. Yep. First sick day of my mission! It was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo boring. I don't like staying in the flat. But it was nice to relax a bit I suppose. He is feeling better now, don't worry :)

We saw Neal and Jana again. Jana (pronounced Yawnna) is all set for her baptism. It is still gonna be a while until then, but that's ok. She was also sick and couldn't make it to church this week. But she is doing great.

Adrian and Rebecca are still awesome. Rebecca couldn't come to church because she had to look after the sick kids. (Why is everybody sick???) But Adrian came, which is a big deal, because he worked in his tire shop in the morning, raced home and showered and changed, then came to sacrament meeting, then raced off to work again. He is so awesome. I am so happy about that. 

Elder Van Wagoner and I are getting along super well. I love serving with him. We probably shouldn't choose favorite companions but... we are awesome friends so this is awesome. 

Happy Birthday to Spencer Seth Chappell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! in a day for me, two for you. You are the man. I hope you have a great birthday. 

As Zone leaders we just kind of do random stuff. For example this week we will have to drive up to Wagga Wagga (what a name for a city right?) and switch cars with them because theirs is struggling, then we will take theirs down to the office next week for MLC (mission leadership council). Then we will get a new car. So we do random stuff like that.  But our regular responsibilities are exchanging with the District Leaders and the new missionaries and training/helping/showing them how to missionary. (I just fake like I know what I am doing!)  It is fun. We also do all sorts of boring numbers accounting stuff. It is fun. But yeah that's it! 

For pictures this week, all I took a picture of is this awesome cow. I haven't come up with a clever name for it yet. What sayest thou? Like "motorcow" or "beef on Wheels"... I don't know.  I got it!!!!!!!!!! "Fast Food"

I love all of you! Elder Chappell is out. PEACE

August 21, 2016 Shepparton

Good morning everybody!

This week was great. I am loving serving with Elder Van Wagoner! I have liked all of my companions, but this is the first time that I've been like awesome friends with my comp! It is awesome. He likes to talk, I like to talk, so basically we are always talking while we are working! It is awesome.

So we decided we want to make our flat just a little bit nicer, so on last P-day we started to fix our crappy table and chairs. We went to Bunnings (basically home depot), and bought stuff to sand off the stain, and bought some new stain. We are gonna make it look so good! it is just kind of fun and satisfying having a project to work on, but we can only work on it during lunch time and on P-days, so it may take a while. When we finish I'll show you a picture though.

This week we set a date for Jana's baptism! Yay! We have been working with her for a long time. She will be getting married on the 10th of September, then baptized on the 24th. I am so happy for her! She will be such an awesome member. Then she can be a better influence on Neal until he can be baptized too. 

So this week was transfers! Elder Van Wagoner was transferred here a bit early just cause  it had to be that way, but the real transfer time is now. Heaps of our zone is being transferred! So we basically spent all of yesterday calling other zone leaders and coordinating with them how missionaries will be going to and from their areas. It was just a lot of organization. I love logistics. (not) But it is fun. So all good.

Church yesterday was awesome! you wanna know why? Because It was run by me and my companion! Just kidding it was awesome because it is the true church and it's always awesome. But yeah we both spoke in sacrament meeting, and Elder Van Wagoner played the organ for the hymns, plus a musical item on the piano. Then we taught the youth Sunday School class, then we taught the young men Priesthood class! So we taught during all three hours. This is the life of a missionary in a branch. It was fun! 

Anyway, that's my week, what's yours? 

See ya!

The only true and living Elder Chappell

August 14, 2016 Shepparton

Hello everybody! I hope you have all had a good week! My week has been pretty interesting! 

Elder Jeremia has been transferred. He is the new Assistant to the President. This is one week before the actual transfer time cause I guess special things happen to AP's? I don't really know how it works but yeah he is gone! My new companion is Elder Van Wagoner from Bountiful Utah. He is awesome. We actually flew into the mission at the same time! He is the man at piano and singing. Super friendly guy, very easy to get along with. He and I have already been friends since he was in our zone for the last two transfers, so I am really excited to be his companion! We also have a third this week because of the early transfer. His name is Elder Pou from Tahiti. He is the man, also super good at singing. This week will be really good. 

Random funny story. One night this week we locked ourselves out of our flat and had to try to break in and our next door neighbor has a really annoying dog that barks at everything that moves so that made the neighbor come and get mad at us. But we smooth talked our way out of it and she is our friend now. We will try to teach her sometime.

Elder Van Wagoner has only served in Aussie wards, never islander wards, so he hasn't experienced a fafaga (massive Samoan feed). So I decided to line up heaps of dinner appointments this week so he can experience that. We will have 10 dinners this week. and yes that means three days we will have a double feed. I love gluttony.

Congratulations Riley! Happy Birthday! I hope you adjust well and quickly.

So this week we couldn't do too much work cause my companion was packing, then we were driving, then driving some more, then my new companions were unpacking. So slow week. I hate slow. But that's ok. That's what patience is for! 

Remember "A" and "R"? They were a miracle a few weeks back. Well they came to church yesterday!!! I am so happy! They looked so awesome walking in with their twin babies dressed up in little suits and ties. I loved that. Everything is going well!

I love you all! Here's a couple of pictures of the rolling hills of Australia.