Happy Anniversary, Elder Chandler! 46 Wonderful years together!

Happy Anniversary, Elder Chandler!  46 wonderful years spent in the service of our Heavenly Father. Thirty years of starting and raising a family and now 16 years alone again.  Where does time go!   It all began on a beautiful summer morning in the Idaho Falls Temple.  The sun was brightly shinning, the birds were merrily singing, with that little brook flowing gently downstream as two hearts became one.  I have loved this man for many years as he has treasured me, as his one and only bride of so many years ago.  Now we find ourselves still in the service of our God, serving an incredible mission in Lesotho Africa. So grateful to celebrate another year together as an Eternal couple, sealed together in the “House of the Lord” on August 4, 1970.

 

Now on with the show… featuring our lives the past two months.

Can you make a pumpkin pie in Lesotho, Africa?  The answer is YES!  That pumpkin those lovely people at the village gave us, I cooked and froze 5 pints for pie, because Elder Chandler loves pumpkin pie made by me (of course)!  It tasted delicious and, yes, he is spoiled, but you already knew that!

Elder Chandler spent a little time these past couple of months doing some service to a widow sister.  Most of her light fixtures had been broken for years and so no light in the bathrooms and bedrooms. Her main toilet leaked so much it couldn’t be used.  We spent several different days working at fixing her broken fixtures and her toilet, which proved to be a difficult one for Elder Chandler, but he finally got it working again.  The toilet was too old and no parts would work that you could buy at the store.  He did it though!  He is my Hero!!

Our Balm of Gilead was true to form again this month. I have taken a paragraph out of a letter I sent home in June. “WOW!  This time we probably had 20 little ones racing at the Bakkie when we pulled up!  Screaming at the tops of their little lungs, so excited to see us!  They could hardly wait for us to get our doors open!  They all wanted hugs, kisses, It was so heartwarming after a rough week!  I think we had 20 little ones and 8 teens last night.  The missionaries forgot and I think it was a good thing.  I do not know where they would have sat.  We talked about the scriptures being a gift from Heavenly Father, even the Book of Mormon.  We showed the video of Moroni hiding the plates, the Prophet Joseph's story and first vision, and then how Angel Moroni came and talked to the Prophet to show him where the plates were buried.  The kids loved it and asked many questions at the end.  I gave three of the teens Book of Mormons.  Moses was there and he was showing them all about the book.  He is 15 and has been a member for several years.  It was just a fabulous night, with a powerful Spirit of love and truth!!  How we love Sister MaPalesa and these wonderful little black children!  I am so thankful for Friday nights!” We continue to have a growing number of teens in attendance.  It is so crowded, but we love it every time.  The teens adore MaPalesa and what she does for them.  We are all learning so much together and the love we feel there just washes away anything hard we have had to do during the week! 

Every day is different and crazy busy in the life of a missionary.  Our life is so enjoyable testifying of the Savior and His Restored Gospel upon the earth.  We love it more than words can describe.  The children here are absolutely the best thing on mission.  They love us and we love them.  We get sooo many hugs!  No matter where we go we have become friends with the children!  They laugh and wave even when we are driving.  Because we miss our grandchildren so much at home, it is so comforting to feel their little arms around us. 

We had the neighbors over to eat Sunday dinner two weeks in a row.  There are five youth in their early twenties to late twenties at the Pastors home next door.  Three of them are from South Korea and two of them are from Thailand.  They are on some kind of missionary type program where they go to college and witness of the Savior to others.  They are such wonderful youth and we enjoy the little time we have with them.  Matsiu, and Bridget came to eat with us too and they enjoyed trying to learn each other’s languages!  After church Bridget and Matsiu went teaching with us to two families preparing to go to the temple.  Then we dashed home and cooked our chicken pot pies.  One of the Korean boys ate sooo much I thought he would be sick!!  It was amazing to watch actually.  Then after dessert they asked if we believed in Jesus Christ!  I had just finished this awesome Power Point on the Savior and hadn't even taught it in anyone's home yet, so out it came!  It was a wonderful experience to share about the Savior, his Atonement and His Resurrection for us. We shared with them how much we love Jesus Christ and that He is the very Foundation of our beliefs and Church.  Then the three girls came and spent three different mornings learning to cook “Grandma” style.  We had so much fun together as you can see in the pictures.  We also helped them improve their English.  One day after one of our Sunday meals the girls knocked on our door and asked if we had time to teach them about Mormon’s.  That is the first time in my life that has ever happened to me!  It was so fun to share our beliefs.  We sent them home with reading material and English assignments to improve their English.  The last day of cooking they taught us (by assignment) about the “Plan of Salvation” from the booklet they had been studying.  It was such a sweet experience.  The two Thai girls are going back home today.  We will truly miss them.  The respect and love they show to “Grandpa and Grandma” was very special!  Their culture respects the Elderly (not that we are old or anything) and it sure feels nice to be respected.

We had the blessing of going to a different village with the same couple we talked about last blog to get the father’s documentation this time.  It was the most beautiful drive.  We cannot wait to go there this summer when it is green.  Traveling with this family and their two children is always delight!  Bopello sings and hums much of the time while we are traveling.  When we reach the village many people were out with broken & bent buckets and a couple of old shovels trying to fill in holes in the road so it is not so harsh traveling on.  We snapped a few pictures with them and then asked them if we could help.  So for the next 45 minutes we got to shovel their little buckets full and a old wheelbarrow.  We laughed and laughed and they were so friendly and kind.  We had to wait for the chief lady to get home to have her sign the papers, so we just kept shoveling and laughing.  When the chief came we walked up to her home with her. She had already heard that the white’s were helping. News must travel fast in a village.  She told the Mphete family how nice that was for us to help.  Then as we were leaving a lady came out and handed us a jar of canned peaches as her thank you to us for helping!  We were so touched. What another fun experience in the mission field.

So many days are so busy and a little crazy, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Teaching is incredible here.  I cannot even explain the wonderful experiences we are having teaching these people.  The spirit is powerful everywhere we teach, it seems. One Friday we had the most spiritual lesson we have had since being on mission.  It was with the two Sisters we took to the temple last month!  Wow!  Is all I can say!  We just come home so full of the Spirit every day and so very tired too.  I think that is as it should be.

"I love to see the temple. I'm going there someday; to feel the Holy Spirit, to listen and to pray. For the temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty. I'll prepare myself while I am young; this is my sacred duty."

I love the words of this song and have since the moment I first sang it!  Our experiences in the temple have been so varied over our 46 years of marriage. I am happy, comforted, feel peace, joy, contentment and love like no other place on earth!  Oh how we love our trips to the temple.  We went to Leribe’s Church service last Sunday. It was Leribe Branch conference and Elder Chandler is a Counsel man for the District and was speaking.  It was such a spiritual conference and our little meeting house was packed!  President Makura's leadership in the Branch is making such a difference here and he is like a sponge learning and applying the handbook and all its teaching!  (Of, course, Elder Chandler is doing a wonderful job of training President Makura.  That is part of being a MLS missionary). Oh what joy it is to serve a mission and see such wonderful changes in the lives of God's sons and daughters.

I was blessed to teach Primary again this week, because they do not have a Primary President yet!  Our District Primary President was there, but wanted me to teach instead of her.  I had prepared just in case she didn't have something.  One part of the lesson about the Savior and what he has done for us is truly amazing.  Every time we have given this particular lesson the Spirit is so strong.  One little 11-year-old boy came up to me after Primary and said, "Sister Chandler, I felt like crying today.  I have never felt like that before."  I was able to explain to this wonderful child that the feeling he felt was the spirit of the Holy Ghost bearing testimony to his heart that what he was taught was true!  Jesus Christ is his Savior and Redeemer and He loves him so very much.  I was so grateful after this young boy came up to me that the District Primary President had asked me to teach.  I understood completely that Heavenly Father was going to teach this little boy that day and that lesson needed to be given.

The next day we left for our trip to the temple with President and Sister Makura. The experience there was so comforting. We loved every minute of it.  We listen to President and Sister Makura talk and talk in the back seat in their native tongue to each other like the best friends they are.  It warms our hearts to see how close they are.  Then at the temple we spent two days doing everything: baptisms, initiatory, endowments & sealings!  In the sealing room, having those beautiful black hands acting as proxy for our family members was a tender experience. We even did a sealing session with Johanne Sutherland's family names (She is a good friend from our ward when we were raising our family. She and her husband are serving a mission in the Johannesburg temple). An elderly black woman with the most beautiful blue eyes and her grand daughter joined us.  Needless to say those two days were the absolute best!  You just can not get any better on a mission than strengthening your Branch President and his wife in the Temple of the Lord!  Whee!

We love you all and hope your experiences at home are as wonderful as ours are here in the mission field.  Prepare and plan for your mission “when you have aged a year or two”.  It is an incredible experience and you are God’s hands here upon the earth wherever you are!-

Saying good-bye to our wonderful President and Sister Zackrison

Words cannot express our love and appreciation for this wonderful couple

Our new Mission Family.  President and Sister Thompson and their daughter Nicole

Picture time already only a few days into the mission

Elder and Sister Woolston, Elder and Sister Roberts, Elder and Sister Chandler, President and Sister Thompson

Elder Woodland, Elder North & Tpeiso

On the right is our little convert from the EMT College

Just a few of our 13 baptisms the past two months

Elder Matlanyane and Elder Khophoce still waiting for their visa's to serve in the Botswana Mission

Mission Goodbye dinner for President and Sister Zackrison

Our beautiful Matsiu

Matsiu and Bridget helping Elder Chandler enjoy his pumpkin pie

Brother Mphete's grandfathers home

Brother Mphete's village working to repair holes in the roads.  They carry the dirt buckets and their heads

The work crew!

Even Mothers with babies helping that day!

Sister and Elder Chandler helping fill the buckets

They thought it was great that we just kept filling their buckets!

A kind thank you of a jar of peaches for our service to their village.

Children at MaPalesa's playing games on the IPad before FHE

We love teaching in the villages of Leribe with the Elders

Our temple trip in July with the Makura family

A fun dinner for the neighbors

Three South Koreans and two from Thailand with Matsiu and Bridget

Cooking lessons and FUN with these wonderful neighbor girls

Who ended up with the most on them?  You decide!

So happy to be cooking in Grandma's kitchen

A lesson on the "Plan of Salvation"

Their turn to teach in their very best English

Saying good-bye to Sibongile Magumela as she leaves to serve her mission in England