June 26, 2013
Day 104... I am definitely learning patience.
June 24, 2013
I, Mom, put together the following notes from emailing with Amanda on Monday. She didn’t write a formal letter but did give me some info in our conversation. I added a few things in brackets for clarity.
Hooray!!! I got your box!! Thank you so much. I have time to write you and dad a big letter today with all the details of the past week and answers to your questions in your letters. I just love letters from you! [I have extra time] because we didn't do a zone activity and the other sisters aren't with us.
I am good. Training... is really hard. But I am definitely learning patience. My headache has been super bad the past few days. And I was just super frustrated so yesterday when we were doing personal study after church I felt like I needed to ask for a blessing. So after the broadcast Brother T (our awesome ward mission leader) gave the blessing and Bishop L did the anointing. It was much needed. I feel sometimes like I am running faster than I can right now and feeling disappointed when the other sisters have baptism after baptism and we can’t even keep the investigators that we already have. I'm trying not to feel that way, though.
I got to go to Trader Joes (heaven!!!) and I got stuff to make salads this week. I have been eating a lot healthier lately.
I am so glad you watched the [Missionary] broadcast... I was hoping you would! I loved it!!! So good. It made me really motivated and stuff. I kinda doubt our mission will be getting ipads and iphones any time soon, but we can hope!!! Yeah, I'm thinking they'll just do more affluent/safe/bigger cities right now.
Love you alll sosososososos much!!! You are in my prayers!!! Gotta go!!
June 17, 2013
Day 97... At 14 weeks, I became a momma!
June 17, 2013
So big news! At 14 weeks, I became a momma! My trainee is Sister Jin. She is from Seoul, South Korea. She went to BYU-Hawaii for about a year before this. She is a year younger than me. I am incredibly nervous about training but if President Smart thinks I can do it, then God thinks I can do it too. So for now, I'll just trust them! She is quiet, but very sweet.
We also got to attend the Redlands Temple on Friday. It was nice to go to the Temple. I have missed it a lot.
ALLLSSOOOOOO I got to eat CAFE RIO. Temple + Cafe Rio = A very happy Sister Chase.
Here is a little quote by Joseph Smith that I just love and boy, is it true:
"A religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary to lead unto life and salvation."
Anyways, I love you all so very much. Thank you for the prayers and letters. I know I say that every week, but I really do mean it.
With lots of love,
sister amanda abby chase
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| Sister J and Sister Chase |
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| Sister Haycock and Sister Chase with Sister Smart (Mission president's wife--she is awesome!) |
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| Redlands Temple |
June 12, 2013
Day 90... Salvation is not a cheap experience. It takes work!
June 10, 2013
Dear Family and Friends,
Annddddddd another week bites the dust in Jurupa Valley, California! Time is going by SOOO fast. On Thursday, I will hit my three month mark! I am still loving serving here as a missionary. Although there are times that I would just like to lie down because I am just so dang exhausted, I love this work. And I love helping and inviting people to come to Christ even though some (most) people reject the invitation. I remember reading a talk called "Missionary Work and the Atonement" by Elder Holland. I am continually reminded of the following quote:
"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary."
Missionary work is sooo not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. It takes work! If we just try to internalize the significance of Christ's atoning sacrifice for us, the work, effort, and rejection is worth it. Christ did it for us. He gave his life, and I am very certain I can give 18 months of an eternal life to fully serve my Savior. And when I think to complain, I am reminded that it was never, ever easy for him, so why would it be easy for me?
This week Sister H and I strived to be exactly obedient. Exact obedience is sooo not easy. But I have found that this week has been so much fun--even being more obedient. On Saturday, Sis H and I had ZERO appointments. Seriously. Zero. No one wanted to meet with us! So we tracted and called every single less active member and visited less actives as much as we could! Consequently, we also smelled like sweat. It is SOOO hot and nasty here!! We decided we were going to have a fun day, regardless of our very fullllll (ha. not) schedule. So we sang our little hearts out to songs in the car and decided to sing every single thing we spoke. I am for sure learning how to be more outgoing!!! I think another reason why I needed to serve a mission is to become outgoing. I think we would go insane and kill each other if we never had fun. Missionary work can be soooo boring unless you love it and make it fun.
Anyways. On Tuesday, we went to T's house (R’s brother....R moved out because their mom is c.r.a.z.y....you'll see that in a second) to teach him a lesson. So we knock on the door and Mom answers with a very quick "hi" and a grumpy face. She let us in and said "mejas (little girls in espanol I think) I need to talk to you". I go to shake T’s hand and he wouldn't shake my hand. So I knew something was up. We go sit down on the couch and Mom proceeds to tell us that she never wants us to come to her home again because we are rude and mean. She says that we pushed baptism on T (we didn't....and we stopped talking about it once Mom said she didn't want him to be baptized. She said no church would ask a person to be baptized unless they had been teaching them for AT LEAST six months. Weird. We had dinner at her house the night before (R made the food and Mom was in the other room the whole time). She told her daughter we were coming and we would do "bible study" with all of them after (everyone thinks all we do is bible study around here. so not true!). However, we had told both R and T multiple times that we wouldn't have time to do a lesson after because we had an appointment with another family. She was so mad that her daughter went out of her way to come (from Rubidoux...5 minutes away) to have dinner and NOT have bible study with us! She didn't believe that we had informed T and R the week prior. She also brought up the fact that a few months ago (when we were in the trio) we had to cancel an appointment because something important came up. We apologized for that previously, but she brought it up again. She then was angry that the time before we only had a 30 minute lesson (that day was CRAZY busy). She went on and on for 5 minutes (we couldn't get a word in) and then I just interrupted and said "we are not here to nitpick at each other’s mistakes, that is not our purpose." She replied with, "Well I am here to tell you how rude you are." She said she still wanted people to come do bible study with T (who isn't even a progressing investigator right now). She said we can't come back but to send other people from our church. We told her we would talk to our Bishop. She said if we didn't she would go and talk to him herself! Oh boy. It was wayyyy frustrating in the moment but now I look back and it was ridiculous! Haha. And way funny.
We also visited a less active member. She is bipolar. Before we gave the blessing she said that work was really hard and not a good situation for her. So I started saying the blessing/prayer and I said something like "please bless that N will know whether she needs to find employment elsewhere or..." she interrupts and says "NO!!! DON'T SAY THAT!!!! I like my job!!!! And I am almost to retirement!!!!! and some other things. It was soo dang funny. So I continued the thought and said "...or that the stress at work will be lessened and she will know how to help resolve the situation." It was hilarious. I feel so bad for her, though. She is so bipolar and has been calling us often telling us how her day went. There are just so many people that need love! She also pulled out her book of Mormon and started to flip through it and asked "where are the scriptures??? I was trying to find them in here but I couldn't!" We then explained to her that the entire book of Mormon is scripture.
We meet quite the crazy people on missions, that's for sure!
I gotta go, but thank you all so much for your support and love. It means a lot. Also, read D&C 6. So good.
Love you all,
sister amanda abby chase
Dear Family and Friends,
Annddddddd another week bites the dust in Jurupa Valley, California! Time is going by SOOO fast. On Thursday, I will hit my three month mark! I am still loving serving here as a missionary. Although there are times that I would just like to lie down because I am just so dang exhausted, I love this work. And I love helping and inviting people to come to Christ even though some (most) people reject the invitation. I remember reading a talk called "Missionary Work and the Atonement" by Elder Holland. I am continually reminded of the following quote:
"Anyone who does any kind of missionary work will have occasion to ask, why is this so hard? Why doesn’t it go better? Why can’t our success be more rapid? Why aren’t there more people joining the Church? It is the truth. We believe in angels. We trust in miracles. Why don’t people just flock to the font? Why isn’t the only risk in missionary work that of pneumonia from being soaking wet all day and all night in the baptismal font?
You will have occasion to ask those questions. I have thought about this a great deal. I offer this as my personal feeling. I am convinced that missionary work is not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. Salvation never was easy. We are The Church of Jesus Christ, this is the truth, and He is our Great Eternal Head. How could we believe it would be easy for us when it was never, ever easy for Him? It seems to me that missionaries and mission leaders have to spend at least a few moments in Gethsemane. Missionaries and mission leaders have to take at least a step or two toward the summit of Calvary."
Missionary work is sooo not easy because salvation is not a cheap experience. It takes work! If we just try to internalize the significance of Christ's atoning sacrifice for us, the work, effort, and rejection is worth it. Christ did it for us. He gave his life, and I am very certain I can give 18 months of an eternal life to fully serve my Savior. And when I think to complain, I am reminded that it was never, ever easy for him, so why would it be easy for me?
This week Sister H and I strived to be exactly obedient. Exact obedience is sooo not easy. But I have found that this week has been so much fun--even being more obedient. On Saturday, Sis H and I had ZERO appointments. Seriously. Zero. No one wanted to meet with us! So we tracted and called every single less active member and visited less actives as much as we could! Consequently, we also smelled like sweat. It is SOOO hot and nasty here!! We decided we were going to have a fun day, regardless of our very fullllll (ha. not) schedule. So we sang our little hearts out to songs in the car and decided to sing every single thing we spoke. I am for sure learning how to be more outgoing!!! I think another reason why I needed to serve a mission is to become outgoing. I think we would go insane and kill each other if we never had fun. Missionary work can be soooo boring unless you love it and make it fun.
Anyways. On Tuesday, we went to T's house (R’s brother....R moved out because their mom is c.r.a.z.y....you'll see that in a second) to teach him a lesson. So we knock on the door and Mom answers with a very quick "hi" and a grumpy face. She let us in and said "mejas (little girls in espanol I think) I need to talk to you". I go to shake T’s hand and he wouldn't shake my hand. So I knew something was up. We go sit down on the couch and Mom proceeds to tell us that she never wants us to come to her home again because we are rude and mean. She says that we pushed baptism on T (we didn't....and we stopped talking about it once Mom said she didn't want him to be baptized. She said no church would ask a person to be baptized unless they had been teaching them for AT LEAST six months. Weird. We had dinner at her house the night before (R made the food and Mom was in the other room the whole time). She told her daughter we were coming and we would do "bible study" with all of them after (everyone thinks all we do is bible study around here. so not true!). However, we had told both R and T multiple times that we wouldn't have time to do a lesson after because we had an appointment with another family. She was so mad that her daughter went out of her way to come (from Rubidoux...5 minutes away) to have dinner and NOT have bible study with us! She didn't believe that we had informed T and R the week prior. She also brought up the fact that a few months ago (when we were in the trio) we had to cancel an appointment because something important came up. We apologized for that previously, but she brought it up again. She then was angry that the time before we only had a 30 minute lesson (that day was CRAZY busy). She went on and on for 5 minutes (we couldn't get a word in) and then I just interrupted and said "we are not here to nitpick at each other’s mistakes, that is not our purpose." She replied with, "Well I am here to tell you how rude you are." She said she still wanted people to come do bible study with T (who isn't even a progressing investigator right now). She said we can't come back but to send other people from our church. We told her we would talk to our Bishop. She said if we didn't she would go and talk to him herself! Oh boy. It was wayyyy frustrating in the moment but now I look back and it was ridiculous! Haha. And way funny.
We also visited a less active member. She is bipolar. Before we gave the blessing she said that work was really hard and not a good situation for her. So I started saying the blessing/prayer and I said something like "please bless that N will know whether she needs to find employment elsewhere or..." she interrupts and says "NO!!! DON'T SAY THAT!!!! I like my job!!!! And I am almost to retirement!!!!! and some other things. It was soo dang funny. So I continued the thought and said "...or that the stress at work will be lessened and she will know how to help resolve the situation." It was hilarious. I feel so bad for her, though. She is so bipolar and has been calling us often telling us how her day went. There are just so many people that need love! She also pulled out her book of Mormon and started to flip through it and asked "where are the scriptures??? I was trying to find them in here but I couldn't!" We then explained to her that the entire book of Mormon is scripture.
We meet quite the crazy people on missions, that's for sure!
I gotta go, but thank you all so much for your support and love. It means a lot. Also, read D&C 6. So good.
Love you all,
sister amanda abby chase
June 6, 2013
Day 83... "We need not be afraid if we are grounded in His doctrine."
June 3, 2013
Dear family and friends,
This past week was pretty uneventful, except for Sister R's baptism yesterday afternoon!!! Her husband received the Aaronic priesthood and was able to baptize her. He was just baptized a week earlier. It was so awesome to see. Families can change because of the gospel. They used to argue and fight and had some really bad feelings for one another, but as they embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, they have been able to understand each other better and have been able to love each other despite their weaknesses. Hopefully their daughter will be baptized soon!
As we have visited TONSSSSSSS of less actives (some of which are not nice at all and many like to tell us what we are doing wrong as missionaries). I have discovered four things that if people did, the world would be a lot better of a place and they would be happy:
1. Be thankful/grateful
2. Control your pride
3. Live the Word of Wisdom
4. Live the Law of Chastity
I wish people realized how important following those commandments are to our happiness!!! Lives and families are torn apart because of those things. It's super sad to see. I hope that I am doing a decent job at letting these less actives know how much the gospel could bless their life if they could just embrace it!
I found a couple of quotes this week in my personal study that I thought I'd share:
"Sometimes we become the lightening rod, and we must "take the heat" for holding fast to God's standards and doing His work. I testify that we need not be afraid if we are grounded in His doctrine. We may experience misunderstanding, criticism, and even false accusations but we are never alone. Our Savior was despised and rejected of men. It is our sacred privilege to stand with him" –Elder Robert D. Hales.
I LOVE that quote. This week has been a lot of rejection and all that not so fun stuff, and it has mostly come from inactive members (go figure). After I read that quote, I came to the realization that I am experiencing the teeeeeensiest, tiniest bit of the persecution the Savior went through, and what a privilege it is to do His work! Despite the not so great stuff, being a missionary is the best thing I could ever do with my life right now.
I also found this quote that applies so well to each of us, especially those who already have a knowledge of the gospel:
"The restored gospel of Jesus Christ blesses lives not just when we believe it--but much more when we live it" President Uchtdorf.
What a true, true, statement that is. I just so wish you could all know the desires of my heart and the desires of God's heart concerning all of you. I know we are all going through hard things, but I just wish I could plead with you to hold to the rod, hold to what you have been taught growing up in the gospel. It is TRUE. So true. I have seen the gospel bless my life and others' lives the very minute they choose to embrace and live the gospel.
I love you all soooo much. Thank you for your prayers and notes of encouragement. I love hearing from you all!
Love,
sister amanda abby chase
Dear family and friends,
This past week was pretty uneventful, except for Sister R's baptism yesterday afternoon!!! Her husband received the Aaronic priesthood and was able to baptize her. He was just baptized a week earlier. It was so awesome to see. Families can change because of the gospel. They used to argue and fight and had some really bad feelings for one another, but as they embraced the gospel of Jesus Christ, they have been able to understand each other better and have been able to love each other despite their weaknesses. Hopefully their daughter will be baptized soon!
As we have visited TONSSSSSSS of less actives (some of which are not nice at all and many like to tell us what we are doing wrong as missionaries). I have discovered four things that if people did, the world would be a lot better of a place and they would be happy:
1. Be thankful/grateful
2. Control your pride
3. Live the Word of Wisdom
4. Live the Law of Chastity
I wish people realized how important following those commandments are to our happiness!!! Lives and families are torn apart because of those things. It's super sad to see. I hope that I am doing a decent job at letting these less actives know how much the gospel could bless their life if they could just embrace it!
I found a couple of quotes this week in my personal study that I thought I'd share:
"Sometimes we become the lightening rod, and we must "take the heat" for holding fast to God's standards and doing His work. I testify that we need not be afraid if we are grounded in His doctrine. We may experience misunderstanding, criticism, and even false accusations but we are never alone. Our Savior was despised and rejected of men. It is our sacred privilege to stand with him" –Elder Robert D. Hales.
I LOVE that quote. This week has been a lot of rejection and all that not so fun stuff, and it has mostly come from inactive members (go figure). After I read that quote, I came to the realization that I am experiencing the teeeeeensiest, tiniest bit of the persecution the Savior went through, and what a privilege it is to do His work! Despite the not so great stuff, being a missionary is the best thing I could ever do with my life right now.
I also found this quote that applies so well to each of us, especially those who already have a knowledge of the gospel:
"The restored gospel of Jesus Christ blesses lives not just when we believe it--but much more when we live it" President Uchtdorf.
What a true, true, statement that is. I just so wish you could all know the desires of my heart and the desires of God's heart concerning all of you. I know we are all going through hard things, but I just wish I could plead with you to hold to the rod, hold to what you have been taught growing up in the gospel. It is TRUE. So true. I have seen the gospel bless my life and others' lives the very minute they choose to embrace and live the gospel.
I love you all soooo much. Thank you for your prayers and notes of encouragement. I love hearing from you all!
Love,
sister amanda abby chase
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| Good thing Amanda can't look at her blog! She would not be a fan of me (mom) posting this picture. Captures the new side of Amanda--which I love :) |
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