Week Eight

Dearest Family,

I love you so very much!! Just thought that you should know :)

This week has come with many ups and downs. We were able to listen to the General Relief Society broadcast, and I was very touched to what President Thomas S. Monson said. One of his last sentences what that, "We never walk alone." It was amazing to hear that, and to have the spirit affirm to me of the truth of that sentence.

The work is progressing. We were able to have our investigators have a member present in their lessons. It is so nice to have Robin meet members of the church, and have her gain that relationship with the ward. It is easier to let her go, and be with those that are going to take care of her when we are gone.

This week has also been a hard one, mentally and spiritually. This week my depression really hit me. My mind just broke, and I wasn't able to focus. It was a challenge to keep going. I ended up taking a day to recover. Sister Young was so amazing that day. She understood that it was hard for me, and she was able to follow the spirit and guide me out of that mess. Sister Straatman and Sister Mϋcke were also very comforting to me. They left notes around our room with encouraging scriptures and quotes from hymns, and prophets. I know that they were placed in my life to help me through this trial that was given to me.

Sister Chaylee Randall and Sister Young

Sister Muke, Chaylee, Sister Straatman

On Sunday, I decided to study missionary work before a fireside. I studying in Our Search for Happiness, and I came across pages 103-104. I was able to read through it, and be touched by what the spirit was teaching. I came across the paragraph. "Weaknesses become strength, challenges become opportunities, trials become triumphs, and adversity becomes an adventure in the service of the Lord." I know that no matter what happens, the Lord is going to change the challenge that I have, into something wonderful. There was also the line, "Not only do they have a message of eternal significance to share, but they also have a divine mandate to do so." We were sent here for a purpose. No matter what trials we go through, we will be blessed. I know that this is the place I am supposed to be at this time. I know that no matter what happens, the Lord will put me where people need me to go.

It is amazing where the Lord will put you, and who He puts in your path. I knew that being on a mission was hard, but then to be put with amazing sisters who try their hardest to help me, is amazing. The Lord is watching over me, and he wants the best for me.

Last night, President and Sister Van Cott gave a fireside at our church building, and also showed everyone what the mission offices look like. It was wonderful to see them, and to hear President speak. His words are very encouraging. They spoke on missionary work, and how helpful the members are to us. At the fireside were members from our stake. It was wonderful to have people there to hear the revelation that comes from president. He told the story about me and how I came to be in Highland. Afterward, Troy went and introduced himself to President Van Cott. He hasn't told me how that went, but I am sure he told you already :P

I love being here, and this work. It is amazing what the Lord has provided me with.

Can you believe that it has been two months since I left home?? The time is going by so fast. It is just crazy.

I love you all so much!! Today I am going to go and get my shot, so that will be fun. We are also shopping, and cleaning, and you'll never guess what else. I am practicing piano today! I was asked to play in the departing devotional on the 27th for the missionaries that are going home. We have decided that I need to practice for at least an hour every P-day. It will be nice to be able to play the piano again. I am hoping that it will help with my depression. :)

I love you all so much! I hope you have had a wonderful week!

Sister Randall

Week Seven

Dear Familia,

This week had gone well. We were able to teach Robin, which is always nice. She is a sweetheart. Robin is still struggling with her smoking, but she is working on improving. This week she was able to receive a blessing, and that has given her a lot of strength. We are so happy to see her progress, and to know that the Lord is going to help her when we can't. There is only one downside to going to her house. Her cats all have fleas, and they have now come to bite me. They itch so bad! I am trying to get them to go away, and I have talked to our mission presidents wife about it. Hopefully it will go away. I do have to wash all of my clothes, and my sheets again. I don't like fleas.

We met the sweetest family this past week, and they have to cutest dog! Dad, I have finally decided on what kind of a dog I want. It is called a Yorkie Poo. They are a mix between Yorkies, and Poodles. They are adorable! The only thing is that pets get fleas... We will see what happens :P

The work is progressing. I absolutely love it here, and all the people that we meet.

My health is improving everyday!

We are teaching a new investigator! He is 11 years old, and lives with his less active grandparents. We invited them all to a baptism, and his grandparents have been coming to church. At the baptism, he came up to us and said that he wanted to be baptized. It was the cutest thing ever!! He already has a friend in the ward that he spends time with at church. It is so exciting!!

We haven't been able to meet with Karena for a little while because she has been sick, but we are not giving up on her!

The work is amazing. I have decided that I am going to start a gratitude journal. I want to be able to see all the blessings that the Lord has given me. The September Ensign also talks a lot about gratitude, and how recognizing that will help us.

We are still going to see the less active members of our ward. It is hard to make appointments with them, but we are trying!

We were able to meet the sweetest little old lady this week! Her name is Sister Emery. She is in her 80's and a temple worker. She wants is to come over and sleep over one night. Her husband passed a couple of years ago, so she is very lonely. I love her though! Every week she is going to take us to lunch at least once. She is just so sweet!!

My most spiritual experience this week.... I think it would have to be when I read through my patriarchal blessing. I have really been looking to that, and when I read through it,  I really felt the spirit testifying that everything in my blessing was from God. I know that things are going to get tough, but I can always look to my blessings. 

I also had a spiritual experience when we have stopped by a couple of peoples houses. It is hard to knock on doors and have there be no answer almost all the time. We have started to look at other people's houses when we go to the door and they are not there. I have felt the spirit so strong when we are just looking around to other people houses. We have started talking to everyone, and some people are really receptive to the gospel.

I love the spirit I get when I am reading the scriptures, and preaching the gospel. It is very comforting to have that be there.

There are a couple of scriptures that have really hit me this week. Proverbs 3:5-6, and Luke 1:37

They talk a lot about putting everything in Christ and Gods hands. I know that there are hard times, but as we work and really focus on God, everything gets easier.

I love you all so very much!!

Sister Randall

Week Six

Hello All :)

This week has gone very well :) We were able to meet with both of our investigators! One of our investigators is a 17 yr-old named Karena. She has been committed to baptism and gotten to the font, but then gets afraid. She has a strong fear of water. We are working with her though :) She is a sweetheart. She is mentally handicapped, but not bad enough that she doesn't understand the gospel. We are working on Christ right now. She has so many questions about why He suffered for us, and the reasons he did things for us. She also has questions about God. She keeps asking us if He came down to earth to receive a body like Jesus. I am trying to figure out how to answer her questions. It has come to a lot of prayer, and relying on the Spirit to speak for me. We showed her the Restoration movie, and the Lamb of God movie this week. Those have brought on more questions. We think that this coming week we are just going to answer her questions the entire time. She has a lot, which is wonderful :) I love teaching her, and getting to know her more :)

We also go to teach Robin a few times this week. When we saw her this week, we were going to go over the first step in the 12 step program to overcome addictions that the church put out. Last week we gave it to her, and asked her to read over it. We thought that she didn't, and then when we got there, she said that she had, and then started crying. She read through it and it says that she will feel God's presence, and will be able to know that He is there for her. She says that she hasn't ever felt Him. It was so sad to be there with her, and tell her that He is there for her. She believes that, but has a hard time feeling that. She expects something big to happen, and then she will know. The thing though is that she has so many experiences that mean so much. She tells us of a time when she was driving on the freeway, and all of a sudden everyone came to a stop. She slammed on her brake, and saw the car behind her come up really fast to her. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact of the other car, but it never happened. When she looked up, the other car's wheels were spinning, but the car wasn't going anywhere. She says that someone was literally holding the car back. Having her tell us this, and then thinking that God isn't there is so hard. She also told of us a time when she was laying on her couch, and all of a sudden she hears someone say "I love you". She looked around the room, and no one was there with her. She knew that was from God. She just doesn't feel anything anymore. It makes me so sad to know that He is there for her, but that she doesn't feel it. One of the good things though, is that she is going to quit! She has no more cigs in her house, and is not going to get anymore. I have so much faith that she can do this!! I am so excited for her, and to see her progress. I know that this is going to be an uphill battle, but that she can do it :)

Things are going well. We are working with a lot of less active members, and some people that got excommunicated. THey are all coming back to church, and excited to learn more! Things are progressing so much. I keep looking back to the beginning of my transfer, and know that the Lord has had his hand in all of the work. I love being a missionary so much!

We are finally eating dinner with the members every night. Our September calendar is packed full. We have dinner with the Mickelsons this week :) I am very excited :)

The Lord is blessing my so much today! My companion and I are both staying in the Amber Hills Ward :) We are also able to stay with the two sisters that are in our apartment, and we get to keep our amazing district leader and his companion :) We are also getting new zone leaders, and they were office elders, and great elders :) We are all very excited :)

So,

I am now one the driving :)

It is a funny story.. At the beginning of the transfer, me and my companion were given a car. The thing though, was that I was not able to drive, and neither was my companion. We both hadn't gotten in our driving records. President told us to have Sister Young drive. For 5 weeks Sister Young drove the car. On week 4 I got my driving record in, and didn't think much about it. Last Monday, we were told that Sister Young is not supposed to drive. So, for the past week, I have been driving. I have no idea if I am the driver for this transfer or not... We will have to ask someone. It was way funny when we found out that Sister Young was not supposed to drive, because she was not on the insurance... It made us freak out a little, and then we laughed about it.

Just thought you should know :P haha

Here are some pics of me and the ones I have been with the past six weeks!!
They are all amazing!!!

Sister Young and I.  I can curl my hair!! It looks cute too!

It is all of us sisters. Sister Mucke is the one with the brown shirt, Sister Straatman is the blonde, Sister Young is my companion and the one with the polka dotted skirt , and then there is me. 

This is our district and the Spanish elders! The Spanish elders are the ones that are playing card at the table. My district leader is Elder Maynes, and he is the one at the desktop, and his companion is Elder Joos, he is the blonde.

I an so happy to be here!!

I love you all so much!! You need to read D&C 90:24 It is an amazing scripture :) Also read Mark 11:21-25. These scriptures have meant so much to me this week. Also study the Atonement. The account that I really like is in Mark 14: 32-46. The scriptures are amazing. They bring so much comfort, and peace. Remember to turn to them whenever things are getting hard.

Love you bunches!!

Week Five

Dearest Darling Familia :)

This past week has been busy, fulfilling, lots of work, and wonderful :)

On Monday we were all over the place, trying to find someone we could go and email with, and ended up emailing at the Holmes, and our Ward mission leader, Brother Skoy :)

When we went to Brother Skoy's, we played games, had homemade pizza, cookies, and just relaxed. It was a much needed P-day, and we were able to regenerate for the week, which we really needed.

On Tuesday we had district meeting and were able to learn more about how to be better missionaries. It was really nice to be there with other missionaries and hear how they were struggling too. I hate to say it, but it was a huge comfort. We also had planned 8 lessons that day, but I guess people were sick or busy, so we taught 2. It was okay though, because we were able to plan and have a wonderful day with our less active member Sister Diamond. She is the sweetest lady ever!! She treats us like we are her granddaughters, so it is comforting. We have been teaching her lessons, and getting to know her better. She actually found us, and wanted us to come over, so that she could take the lessons, and become stronger in the church. She wants to come back, and is so happy to have us over! It is wonderful to teach her :)

We also taught our investigator, Robin. Robin is progressing, but is struggling a little with a smoking addiction. We are working through that, and have been able to teach her all of the lessons. We are just working on the smoking. Do you have any ideas on how we can help her stop? She has stopped before, but then got back into smoking when her friend died. It is getting better though, and we are working with her a lot :)

On Wednesday we got to do something really special. We got to go to the temple :) It was so nice to go and feel that amazing spirit, and be comforted. It was only my second time, and I forgot some of the things that we had to do, but my companion helped me a lot, and I was able to get through it :) After the temple we got to go to Cafe Rio and have lunch. It was soooo yummy :) We also went over to the Florea's that night. That was a very interesting evening. We went over, because Sister Florea was upset, and called us to come over and teach her. This family was supposed to have moved the week that I got into the mission field. It is crazy that they are all still here. So, we went over and planned on teaching her from a talk in the April 2013 Ensign, 'Where Can I Turn for Peace'. She really needed it that day too. When we got there, she like started crying, and then said that she couldn't. It was really weird. That and they are living with her step father in law, and her mother in law. Well, her mother in law was not doing so well, and it was just crazy. We ended up leaving their apartment, and calling our district leaders for some guidance. Things were going well in the apartment, and then her mother in law just kinda got all angry and upset with Sister Florea. From what we could tell, she didn't do anything to set her mother in law off. It was really weird and awkward to be there. Later while we were there, Sister Florea's husband, his mom, and his step father came into the house yelling at each other, while we were singing 'Where Can I Turn for Peace. We ended up getting louder the longer we sang. and they yelled. It was kinda funny afterwards. All is well now though. I think that the Florea's are moving up to Idaho in the next two days. It will be good for them to be there, and not in Cali.

On Thursday, my companion had MLC, which is some type of training for the leaders, i think. Well, I ended up going on exchanges with Sister Straatman, because her companion also had MLC. We ended up going and teaching Robin, and going over the 12 step program, and committing her to baptism again :) She will be getting baptized on the 28th of September :) We are all very excited! We are on track, we just need to get her to stop smoking. But we are working on that, and she is getting better :) We also went and had two lunches that day... We were a little full... We got to see Sister Diamond, and meet a member in our ward. It has been an effort to get the members to meet with us, but we are getting there :) We also had like 11 people not be home for appointments, but things are getting better, and we were able to see those that the Lord needed us to see. It was good :)

On Friday, we taught Robin, the Floreas, and stopped by one of our less active sisters. We also went to a ward activity that night :) We had 2 less active families show up that we invited, and we got Robin a ride, so she was there too :) It was great to have those we are teaching there, and to let them feel the love of the ward :) It was a little stressful with the rides, but everyone was there and we didn't need to worry :)

On Saturday we went and saw people that the Lord needed us to see, and we had dinner at an amazing mexican resturant called Taco Joe's. It was fantastic!! Authentic mexican food, and amazing chips :) We were very thankful to have that meal :) I had been telling Sister Young that is looked like good mexican, and that we should try it, and then one of our memberish people took us there, it was great :)

On Sunday we had church, and all the people that we invited to the ward activity showed up at church :) It was wonderful to have Robin there, and to see her at church. The ward was really welcoming, and you could really feel the spirit.

I am finally over my cold, and no longer sick. It is so nice to be able to go and get things done.

I love this area :) Things are still difficult, and there are still a lot of zeros on my daily acutals, but when I was looking at the past 5 weeks, I realized that we are improving. Things are getting better, and we are able to do the Lord's work. Thank you so much for your prayers! I have felt them a lot this past week, and I am so thankful for you all. :)

I love you so very much! I know that if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be able to be here, and do this work without your support.

This is the last week I have before transfers. We are hoping/thinking that we are going to be here for a while, but I have no idea. I would love to stay here until Christmas, but that probable wont happen. I am preparing myself to get transferred, and thinking that it will happen, cuz then I wont be to shocked if it does.

I get to see the Holmes every Sunday :) which is so very nice. Emily left for school this past Thursday, which I have to say was kinda hard. I didn't think it would be, but saying good bye, for who knows how long was a little hard. It will all be well though :)

I talked to the other sisters, and they have not heard from the people in our old house yet. They have stopped by once, but the boy said that his mom was not home. They are going to try again though :) It will be good.

I love you all so much!! Let me know if there is anything that you would like me to do for you :)

Have a wonderful week, and know that I am praying for your safety, and for you to be watched over. Love you all so very much!!\\


You are welcome to write Sister Chaylee Randall at - chaylee.randall@myldsmail.net

Week Four :)

This week has been a harder week. My faith has been tested, but all is
still going well. :)

I had to miss a day today though :( On Wednesday, I woke up, and felt
absolutely miserable. It turns out, that one of the sisters in the
other companionship felt the same way, so we called Sister Van Cott
(presidents wife) and talked to her for a little while. She heard me
trying to talk, and my cough, and immediately said that I needed to go
climb my butt right back to bed. :P My companion and the other sisters
companion went on splits, and they were companions while we stayed home
to rest. Our companions went and got us some NyQuil, and I went right
to sleep. I think I slept for like 8 hours. I woke up to eat once, and
then went back to bed. I also took a long hot bath, and that helped a
lot.

It was nice to rest, and I needed it, but it was hard to not go and
see the people we were planning to see. We had 11  people that we were
going to see that day. It was really hard. It made sense though, to
stay home. The people we went and saw on Tuesday were really worried
about my cough, and the way I sounded. The rest was good. I was able
to go out on Thursday, and felt much better. I now feel totally well
:) There is a little cough, but I am using thieves (an essential oil that helps with colds)
I have energy again, and just feel great :)

We finished meeting with the single sisters that we could. A lot of
them didn't answer their door, or there phone, so it was a little
difficult, but we were able to do it :) There are a lot of single
sisters in our ward that are older, and have lost their husbands. It
is sad how many single people that we have. When we go over to their
houses, we sit there are talk for like an hour or two. It is hard for
them to be alone a lot, but we are getting them to come to church, and
have friends in the ward. :) It is really helping them.

It is getting cooler out, so everyday we are going to try and go to a
park, and do studies there sometimes. It is amazing how many people
come up to us and ask us about our skirts, and why we have a name tag.
I love saying that I am a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter Day Saints, and that it is my choice to be out serving the
Lord. We get a lot of question in stores too, and while walking around
apartment complexes. I love it :)

I am having a hard time staying positive at night.
I ended up getting a blessing the other night because of it. Things
are just hard right now, but my blessing gave me hope. I was told that
my family was safe, and cared for, and that you felt my love. I was
also said that the ones I love are being watched over, cared for, and
that they can feel my love. I was told to be patient. Things are going
to turn out, but it is going to take time. We are doing as much as we
can, and putting so much faith in the Lord, and nothing is happening.
I have to have patience and faith that something is going to happen,
it may not be while I am here, but it will happen. Things are just
hard for me. I am getting better though :) and we did see the single
sisters, and are starting to meet with all the members in the ward.
Things will pick up, just not as fast as I want them too. :P
It is like I always say, patience is not a virtue I have. I guess the
Lord is showing my that I need to work on that, and that he is going
to help with that :P It will all get better and easier.

There are some scriptures that we have been reading to our
investigators, and I just realized last night how much it is applying
to me as well. They are:
Moroni 7:33 "And Christ hath said: If ye will have faith in me ye
shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." And the
expedient is whatsoever God asks us to do. We just need to have the
faith in Him, and He will help us with anything that He asks us to do.
The other one is:
Luke 1:37 "For with God nothing shall be impossible" He can go
anything. We just need to put everything in His hands, and all will be
well.

It is crazy how the scriptures help us, and that when we turn to them,
we can know that all is going to be okay :)

I love you all so much!! Thank you for the support that you give me!!

Oh, Happy Labor Day :)