Two weeks left! Valentines week, temple with Val, and I am so grateful to be ME!!!

February 22 2016

Hey everyone!! This week has been amazing.. Honestly.. I am not a broken record but every week has so many good things in it! :) I hope you all have seen some of the great tender mercies from the Lord this week! 

So the theme this week comes from my district leader that talked to us last week about looking for 3 strengths and then using our strengths to help strengthen our weaknesses! He talked about Wreck it Ralph and about how at the end of the movie he finally realizes that there is no one he would rather be then himself, even if he is a wrecker! :) So this week I have focused on this a lot about how truly there is no one I would rather be then me, all my weaknesses, all the trials, all the blessings and every thing in between all happen because it's shaping us to become more like our Father in Heaven! :D 

One of my favorite quotes about this is.. Be yourself. But do more than that. Become yourself!! This life is all about becoming and changing, we must learn how to change and apply the teachings of the gospel and the Atonement of Jesus Christ in our lives and then we will be able to have peace and joy! 

This week my highlight was being able to be at the temple with Valerie, I was able to teach her over a year ago and then baptize her, be at the temple when she did baptisms for her family and then with her when she went through for her own endowment. What an amazing day! :) I learned so much from the spirit in the temple that day, the temple truly is a house of learning and a place where we can put everything in perspective to find out who the Lord needs us to be. I am so thankful for the temple! That was one of the best days on my mission for sure. :) 

We were able to teach our investigator the Plan of Salvation on Tuesday and she has recently lost her father, she felt peace as we testified to her that we all lived before we came her and that we will continue to live after this life. The spirit was so strong as we testified to her. I know that no matter the situation, even in smoke filled rooms the spirit can still come if we let it and if we testify of truth. 

We had a family at church yesterday and yet again another moment when I am so grateful to be me!! :D It's so wonderful to be in a place where so many people desire to come to church and want to feel the spirit! They loved church and I know they are going to join the church one day, they are such an amazing family! They even had cute little bible books.. haha 

We all lived with our Father in Heaven before we came here, and even though we can't remember we have so many things that help us to know that we truly are the Lords children, scriptures, blessings, and revelation all teach us that we are children of a loving Heavenly Father and that we each are destined to become more like him!! :D I hope that you all think this week that truly there is no one you would rather be then you, because in all reality you are exactly who Heavenly Father needs you to be, of course that also means that we continue to change and become better every single day!! I know that as we have the desire to improve we will, and at that last day when we stand before our Savior we will be able to say. I have done my very best!! 

The gospel is true! Jesus Christ lives, Heavenly Father loves you, yesterday, today and forever! I love being a missionary and I know that even though soon enough I will take my name tag off, His name is still on my heart just as it is on all of yours! Have a great week!! 

Love Sister Chisholm! 

Detriot temple!!!! <3 With of course some of my very favorite people!!! 

Man.. this week! Honestly.. I can't really think about much besides how amazing Saturday was!!! :) I went to the temple with a couple in our branch and it was so SO great!! Oh my gosh.. one of the best days of my mission that is for sure!! :) We left at like 8:30 and drove to Detroit, it took like 5 hours and so we had some super good conversations.. like way good ones!!! :) The Matthews was the family that took me and they are AMAZING!!!!! We went to this delcious pizza place called Blaze pizza.. where it's kind of like subway but with pizza!! SO good! :) Then we went to Trader Joes which is awesome! !I had never been there and it was so fun! They bought me so much stuff, like this yummy cookie spread, and then lots of treats and so much yummy stuff! We got this pound of german chocolate.. yumm.... :) haha they were just like getting me everything and it was SO fun! Then we went to the temple and honestly.. it was like the scripture in Alma 17:2-3.. Almost every single person from Midland that I LOVE was there!!!!!! :D The Jones, Sister Wheeler, Valerie of course, the sisters from Midland were there, Sister Lau, Sister Steele ( my old companions!), and so SO many others!! Then a member of our mission presidency was the officiator in the session and that was AMAZING!! There were 7 missioniaries in the session and then he officiated it, I cried.. just saying! :) I learned so much too, so much spiritual knowledge and peace. That was the greatest take aways. I really thought a lot yesterday about how quickly Eve repented after partaking of the fruit, I want to be more like that! :) It shows a lot of humility and very submissive, which I really love! Lots of good things from the temple on Saturday, I am going to go every week when I go home. It's such a great check point for youself and truly helps us become so much better!!! :D I also can't wait to go to the provo city center temple!! That's going to be AWESOME!!!! :D yay!!! haha So after the temple we went to this delicious Mediterannean place, but it was  Bamize food!! haha.. I can't really spell it! Have you heard of that!!? Oh my gosh.. it was SO SO SOOOO good.. Man.. I LOVED it! A new favorite the kids would like it cuz we had sharma like off of the end of avengers! haha :) SO good, then we drove the good ole 5 hours back to TC! And again had some awesome conversations, I loved being with the Matthews, it was weird not having a companion but it also was so good! Exactly what I needed and I feel even more ready to take on the next 2 weeks!! :) I love the temple.. it's my favorite place to be! <3 

 Beautiful sunshine!

 Yummy Trader Joe's food from The Matthews! SO kind!

 Cute knit hats made by a member in the Traverse City Branch!

 A member made me stuffed shells this week!!!!! :D Oh and garlic bread and ceasar salad!! yep.. I was SO happy!!

The snow is melting a little bit....isn't TC gorgeous!

February 15 2016

Hello Everyone!!! :D 

I hope that you are all doing well and that you had a wonderful Valentines day!!!!! :) I sure did! It was filled with love from members and from others!! If you didn't get to feel love I am sending my love your way! No one should be sad on Valentines day!! :) 

So this week our theme was Remember when.. I have learned that it's so important to remember moments that have changed us and shaped us into who we are becoming.. and remember when's work great for jokes too!! haha :) So today I am going to tell you some of the remember when's from my week and hope that you all can also reflect on your week and think of all the times the Lord has blessed you!! :) 

We remember when... Elizabeth and Nick became new investigators this week!!!! We found one of them knocking and the other was when we stopped by an old former investigator! He didn't live there anymore but Elizabeth did instead!! That was awesome!! :) We had two great lessons with them and they are both awesome! I am excited to be teaching them! 

We remember when... We had a stellar lesson with Tim this week! His less active son sat in and totally taught Tim more then us!! He is a rockstar, he knew exactly what to say to help Tim understand the pre eart life! It was such a cool lesson!! This week we are praying that Brandon, the son will take that leap of faith and come to church!! :) He is so cool! 

We remember when.. We didn't freeze to death from the cold.. but we did get close!! We also remember not being able to see more then 2 feet in front of us on the road, we made up an analogy, life without the gospel is like being stuck in a whiteout, you can't see in front of you and all you do is fear. However with the gospel you just keep going and knowing that the Lord will provide the way!! :) 

We remember when we partook of the Sacrament and renewed our Covenants with our Father in Heaven. That is the greatest moment of remembering, we can always take that moment to think of our Savior and His sacrifice. I have gained such a strong testimony of the Sabbath Day, it truly is the way to rejuvenate our Soul! I know that the gospel is true! I love it! I love being a missionary, and love being a member of Christ's church! I know this is true! It's a fact!! :) Have a great week everyone and keep remembering when!!!!!:) 

Love Sister Chisholm! <3 

My flowers that my parents sent me!!!!! :) 

They are the best!! <3 #familiesareforever

Valentine Flowers! (and as a side note...I am so proud of these girls for their cute, CLEAN little apartment!!!)

 Flowers and treats from ward members!

 The Frozen Chosen!!

After a long day of contacting these girls have some rosy cheeks and noses! I love that smile! I asked her how she was feeling about coming home in TWO WEEKS!!!!!! Her response:

So to be honest mommy this is how I feel about coming home! :) I am super douper WAY excited to have the new adventures that are too come! I am so SO excited to see my family and to talk with all of you and not have all these funny times limits!! And I am like I said excited for the next things that are to come, but I am truly going to miss being a missionary! :) I love the feeling of completely serving the Lord all the time, no excuses. I love serving and strengthening others and wearing my Saviors name on my heart all the time! That will be an adjustment but I know that as I give it my all in the next few weeks that Heavenly Father is going to help me adjust! I just know it, He always has done that for me and I know that just like that scripture you sent He always will! :) I also have some amazing people willing and ready to help me adjust! I will be ready when I come home though, it will still tear my heart but I will be ready for the next chapters!! They are exciting!!!!! :D haha But yes.. I am nervous, excited, anxious, sad, heartbroken, joyful, and happy!! :)

 Cool library and excalibur sword collection of the Branch President!

So Valentines day was great!!! :) I played the piano in sacrament meeting, yep you heard that right!! :) I totally got to play and Heavenly Father really helped my fingers play great! :) Then I got to speak, I may have cried a little bit.. I spoke on Buidling our foundations on Christ and how we can't let them lean like the leaning tower of pisa. It went well I think! :) I talked about the small and simple things or the essential things, church prayer and scripture study and then I talked about service and that's when I cried, I said that you are such an example of that to me, and then I talked also about how the branch reached out to us when we came into this new area not knowing anything. It was good though! :) The spirit was there, and that's what matters! A lot of people told me that I did a great job! Hopefully it was good! :) Then we also taught gospel principles, that was an adventure!! haha but it went well! then I got to play the piano again in relief society!! :D So many members gave us treats.. oh man!! haha I am little candied out.. and you know me and my sweet tooth!! ;) it was so sweet of everyone though! :) We had dinner with a sweet older single lady in our branch and another single man brother roan! He totally played for the green bay packers at one point in his life! cool right?! :) He had some amazing stories, I am amazed at the stories people have! :) I also got to look at some of my family history yesterday!!! I would love to hear some cool stories about our ancestors when I get home!! There are some great people with some way cool stories in our blood!!! :) It was a great Valentines day!!! :) I was happy, and honestly it was because it was Sunday!! I just love this branch they are great and so loving!! It just makes my day to be around members!! 

This week we didn't get to do a ton of service.. lots of finding though! And man it was so dang cold!! haha but hey the cold never bothered me anyway! 

I got a text from a very sweet lady in their branch who took them up to a museum and cultural center way up north in Interlochen! Cold and sweet!

Bodly, Nobly, Coldly

 TC sisters way up NORTH!!

I love when cute members send me pictures of my girl! Looks like a yummy day!

Hey everyone!!!! :D I hope you all have had a week full of great miracles, I have such a testimony of tender mercies. Heavenly Father is constantly raining blessings upon us, we must be in tune with the spirit to notice them and then of course give him thanks for them! One of my very favorite scriptures is Alma 26:2.. It is when Ammon is talking to his brethern and he asks them, have you seen all the blessings the Lrod has given to us?! :) This morning I read that scripture and then wrote a list of things that I was grateful for right then, it set my day off so perfectly and was exactly what I needed for the spirit to be with for the rest of my studies! Keeping a gratitude journal helps us to see those small and wonderful tender mercies!! <3 I would invite you all to look for them and write them down, they change your perspective!! :) 

We had a great week! Lots of working with less actives, lots of finding and talking with Heavenly Fathers great children here in Traverse City, lots and lots of food! We had 3 dinner/lunch appointments on Friday!! That was super fun, but I definitley have never ate so much in my whole life!! Even on Thanksgiving!! haha :) We were able to teach our investigator Tim and his wife that is less active and their son who is also less active this week and there lesson went really well, their son Brandon bore his testimony to us and it totally brought the spirit to help his dad and mom to want to come back to church. I love the spirit, it's the only way to do this work!! :D 

Went on Trade offs with Petosky this week!! That was a blast! :) I love sister smith! We had a great time, we taught this guy Scott.. and he was not really interested but had a ton to say about other things so that was a moment of being noble and bold, we testified to him of the Book of Mormon and he said he may read it. Sometimes all you can do is bear your tesitmony and then invite, I have learned that is the best way to help someone change, bear testimony of truth and then invite, then they will govern themselves!! :) Agency is so important! 

We knocked a lot in the cold this week but don't worry we don't have frozen feet yet, or anything else!! :D It's actually been super beautiful and the sun is shining today!! I love it!! Michigan is so beautiful!! :D 

Anyways life is good! I love being a missionary, 3 Nephi 5:13 explains my call as a missionary perfectly, I love the Lord, I know Heavenly Father answers our prayers, I know that we are here for a reason and that is to become more like our Father in Heaven. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. I know that our decisions determine destiny and that we must choose wisely!!!! 

Have a great week.. And Keep smiling!! there is joy ahead!! :) 

Love Sister Chisholm! 

I asked her about her area and her neighbors and where she lives....this is where she is!

On the neighborhood and neighbors part, we have only met one neighbor and only one time!! He brings the trash can in for us! So that is nice! :) He's just this older guy that isn't there very often! We don't have a ton of neighbors, but we live across the street from a lake!!! and our old branch mission leader lives like across our yard from us! So that is fun! :) We drive a ton.. .around 60 miles a day!!! Our area is like 2 hours or so long, we have a bunch of country knocking and lots of driving! But it's fun! Sis Jackson got her thing this week so she can drive! So we have now all been able to drive which is good! I love driving though, it's such a stress relief for me! :) So TC is pretty big but like I said we work most of the boonies we like to call them, we have like 5 other little tiny towns! There's like Suttons bay, North point, Empire, Interlochen, and a couple other even smaller ones! Most of the time we knock in TC the part that we have and then Interlochen, North Point is like WAY up there! It's beautiful though, like seriously so gorgeous here! I LOVE it!! It's probably even better in the summer!! The people make it all worth it too! They are just so great, everyone I meet they help me become even better! It's all about that improving each and every day!! :D 

And THIS: this is the first time she's said she's excited to come home....made my heart happy. I am so proud of her for doing her best and leaving it with no regrets...

ONE MONTH TO GO!!!

I love hearing about all of my families week!! Oh my goodness I am so 

excited to see you all!!! :D :D :D Of course I am working hard and loving life but I am so excited to see 

my cute amazing family!!!!! <3 Can't wait to tell you all my adventures and hear all of yours!! 

SPARK it!!!!

 This threesome ROCKS!!!

A family at a restaurant paid to have 4 cheesecakes ordered for "the church people"....thought that was pretty cute!

Hello everyone! I hope you are having a great day!! Happy February!! I can't believe it's already February, it's so crazy to me how fast time goes!! I hope that you are all doing well and that you are happy! 

Things are going great out here in TC, and being  a trio!! We are working hard and having a blast as we do so!! :) Sister Koch is the life of the party and is always helping us laugh and make the best of everything! She is so sweet, Sister Jackson rocks and is always making funny little jokes as well! I love them! I know that the Lord needs us to be companions. We will forever be sisters! It's like automatic best friends! :D 

So here's my little thought to start off.. Spark is what is needed for a fire to start. It will never start without one, so here is what it stands for!! :) missionary style of course.. but it can apply to all of you too! S-Sincerity P-Perserverance A-Action R-Reverence K-Knowledge!! All these things help us to come to know our Savior Jesus Christ better. So we must always be working on that spark no matter what it is we need to constantly be better and be increasing our faith and testimonies! :) Keep on going, it's all about that enduring to the end principle!!! :D 

This week has been just this! We started off the transfer with a bang!! We talked to a ton of people, we knocked on lots of doors, we taught some powerful lessons, we saw some awesome miracles and of course we laughed along the way and of course had some moments of craziness!! :) There is a scripture that talks about how the voice of 2 or 3 witness is great and I can atest that having 3 witnesses is amazing!!!!!! :D It's so fun to be with 3 of us! We all just laugh, work hard and all are able to help one another! What a party that's what it is! haha :) This week we met a guy that had been a member but decided to leave the church and he was so cool. It taught me a lot about how prayer works. I thought as we walked away from that door how much his family must pray for him, how much they think about him and how much they must wish that his heart would be softened to come back to church again. I am amazed at the patience that people can have with their kids and their familes. Patience is such a great attribute!

Well I am about to head to petosky for trade offs but I hope you all have a wonderful week and that you are happy!! ;) Remember to be grateful I have such a testimony of gratitude prayers! :) They work!!!! Love you all!! 

Sister Chisholm! <3 

The TC zone!!!! :) 

 YAY for missionary care packages!

 Zone P-day!

Fun t-shirts made for p-day! UP NORTH!

Lead Me, Guide Me, Walk Beside Me.

Hello to the world!!! :) This week my email will be all about following the spirit and the wonderful children's song of I am a Child of God. First off, I want you all to know that you are children of a loving Father in Heaven and that He sees you are great potential to become someone better then you can ever even imagine!! :) I know that He cares about you and that He hears your prayers. You may say Sister Chisholm how can you say that, you don't even know me. But I know it because it's true about me. He knows me perfectly and because I know that, I know He thinks that same about all of His children. This week has taught me this wonderful lesson all over again! :) 

On Monday night we were driving home from a lesson and there was a car stuck in the snow, so we pulled over and walked on over skirts and all to this car. A women had already pulled over and was helping this lady and her friend, however the car was stuck and when I say stuck.. it was STUCK!!! So we tried to push it out, we tried to do all sorts of things and it was just not budging, so 3 men later and lots of prayers the car finally came out and we all were able to go home. Now you may not see this as a tender mercy of the Lord, but I do for several reasons. So many people stopped to help these girls, how amazing is that the Lord placed these people there to help and we all were able to render service to our fellow sisters! :) Another great moment was that it was 9 o'clock when we stopped to help them, when we should have been home, but Heavenly Father definteily let us be in His time because we pulled in at 9:30 to our apartment. I know He loves us, He truly is in the smallest parts of our lives. 

We taught our investigator Tim on Tuesday, and had planned to read 3 Nephi 11, however after getting to know them and establishing our purpose the spirit led us another way, we talked about the sacrament, shared the sacrament prayers and invited them to church. They both came to church yesterday! :) The next day we learned from the missionary world wide broadcast that's it's important to be the vessel for the spirit and not be the hinder to the spirit. That lesson was an example of that to me! Heavenly Father loves Tim and that's why we were able to change our lesson plan. 

On Wednesday we were able to meet with a member of our mission presidency for a few minutes and it was amazing, however the greatest thing I learned was to follow the spirit. Yet again, as he was about to leave he asked, does anyone need a blessing!? And that day my companion had been talking about how she wanted a blessing and that she felt like she needed one. She was able to tell him she wanted one and she was able to feel more at peace. Again, Heavenly Father will lead us so we can serve others. He did it for Sister Jackson. I know He loves her, and I know He wants her to be happy! Just as He does each and every one of us! :) 

On Sunday night, after a crazy weekend of transfer calls!! Yes we even got one!! We are in a trio for the next 6 weeks!!! :) what an adventure right?!!? Trio party! That's for sure! Anyways, as I prayed and gave thanks to my Father in Heaven he bestowed upon me utter peace and love. I know that Love is available to all, I know that He will not leave us alone, that He truly is with us. We were able to teach gospel principles and we talked about Our Savior and my heart felt full as I testified of His perfect love and sacrafice. I know they want to help us, I know they want us to be happy. The gospel is a gospel of happiness. We only need to seek it out! :) I love this gospel I know it is true, I know that we are all part of Heavenly Father's family!!! <3 Have a great week!! 

Sister Chisholm! <3 

My mission family!! The Traverse City zone!!! :)

 These are some of the best!

 They had fun at this fun little burger place!

 Sister Chizzy has always loved to play the piano, so glad she gets to on her mission as well!

 Valentines package we sent off to the Michigan! We love those Sister Missionaries!

 A fun P-day! "Epic" Snow ball fight in the parking lot and phase 10 game night!

A fair amount of Traverse City snow!!

This week we had an AMAZING training, it was a worldwide broadcast for all the missionaries across the WHOLE world! haha get it?! Worldwide?!? it was SO great! Oh man, when we sang Called to Serve as all 78,000 missionaries I had tears in my eyes and at the beginning they showed this video of missionaries like leaving and getting their calls and I cried then too! Man.. the spirit makes us emotional that is for sure! I learned a lot, elder bednar spoke to us, and elder nelson, elder clayton, they had sister oscerson speak and a bunch of other people! It was SO good! The spirit was so strong, I think the greatest take away was that we must actually help people repent before they are baptized, so often recent converts have not actually felt the redeeming love of repentance and so they fall away, so they want us to focus a lot on repentance and helping people to actually repent and be baptized! I also learned a lot about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how that needs to be the focus of every single thing we teach. I had an amazing study on that as well this week. It's become so clear and I just love it. The elders gave us a training before the big training and they taught us about charity and accountability also really great. Did you see the pic on facebook that they put up?! Elder Sauer taught about charity and I really liked what he said he used this awesome story and then talked about how charity can either be to impress, to get gain or because we have pure love. I really liked that, in some aspects I would say we all are all three of those and the goal is to make it so truly we only love people because we want to and because we want to see them like our father in heaven sees them. It was really good. :) 

We picked up 2 investigators this week!!! :) that was totally amazing!! tim, who's wife is a part member, and she actually is less active so it was great! He wants to learn, he actually is pretty blind so teaching him is defiantly different but it's been cool! we saw him with a member this week and we are seeing him again tomorrow, I am excited! He is super awesome! Then Tony is also such a cool story!! He actually referred himself like the first day we got here to TC! So we contacted him and called him and left a book of mormon at his house and all this stuff, but it just never worked out for us to meet! So anyways we finally got to meet with him and it was great! :) Sister Jackson bore testimony about the Book of Mormon and it was just great. Teaching is definitely helping her see that she is good enough and have more confidence. I am excited for him! We went finding a lot this week!!! Which was good!! And to be honest the cold hasn't been bothering me at all.. it's been really nice!! :) I mean it's been cloudy, snowing and like 20 or less degrees but Heavenly Father is just warming me up by the spirit I would say! The cold never bothered me anyway right?!?! :) I am super pumped for this week! We should be teaching this awesome family tonight and then some other people later this week! Pray for us to see so many miracles this transfer!! :D haha actually, yesterday I got a blessing because I just could not feel at peace, and I just wanted to know what Heavenly Father was trying to tell me and was a little all over the place but mostly because Heavenly Father told me I needed one.. haha :) So I got one and it was exactly what I needed to hear, it talked a lot about following the spirit and that I will receive revelation for my area, my comps and my investigators. It was really good! I was so thankful I got it, man.. I love the priesthood!! :) Such a great day! I love sundays they are my favorite, such a great day to just get back in check and feel the spirit again! :) they truly are for our souls! :D 

So things are great up here!! I honestly can't believe that it's my last transfer!! I am super excited to finish strong and I am also super excited to come home! Honestly there is a time and a season for everything and I am just ready to leave it all on the field and then to come home and apply! 

Be vigilant, faithful and safe and CHERRIES!

I usually only post Sister Chisholm's big letter that she writes to her friends and people who she loves, rarely the one that is personally to me and her dad, but yesterday she shared some things that were so awesome and I hope maybe will help a future missionary or someone who is wondering whether or not a mission is for them...I am thankful for my sweet daughter and for the choices she has made. Love this cute girl!
We get to email chat a little every week, she usually starts out with "Hey mama, I love you, how are you?" and we go on for a little asking questions and she sends some pictures and then she writes a big email. Yesterday, this was how she started.

Her: Good morning, good morning!!!! :D I love you! How are you?! Oh I totally just ate a nasty jelly bean that tasted like dog food and like grass!! :O haha random moment of the morning! 

Me: Hello!!! What??? Why?? Ewwwww!

Her: hahaha seriously though!!! :) it was so nasty!! I just ate another one that tastes like toothpaste.. elders though! They keep feeding me the gross ones!! haha :) 

Apparently the Elders were passing the Sisters random jelly beans while they sat emailing their parents and thought it quite funny to give them the nasty ones....evenutally she said...

Just ate another jelly bean.. this time I got the tutti frutti one and Sis Jackson got the nasty one!!! hahahaha

OH the life of a missionary......... happy to see they really are just funny, cute kids doing great things!!!

These are some of the Elders in her mission....

 Apparently theres some ice in Michigan at the moment.....

 And some snow...... they cancelled the last hour of church this past week because of a blizzard!

 Here is Sister Chizzy and her mission posterity. She trained Sister Lau (in the yellow)who she calls her daughter, then to the right of her is Sister Vera (who Sister Lau trained) her granddaughter and now she's training Sister Jackson,(grey skirt) her great granddaughter. Funny, cute, missionary lingo!

 Got to go back to Midland for her last zone conference and give her departing testimony to the missionaries there. While she was there she got to see the Jone's family who she loves!

Check out the bumper sticker....GO UTES!!!


Here is what she said in her sweet letter this week to me:

Things are going great out here in Michigan! We had a good week, we have been finding a lot and meeting with less actives which has been going really well! Totally a miracle of the week was having 6 less actives at church yesterday!! Especially because they almost cancelled church because of the total blizzard yesterday but they didn't and what a great experience happened because of it! :) I had tears in my eyes all day thinking about all these people that desire to come back to church. This one family the Arnolds we met the second week here and their son turns 8 in February and so we taught them once and then sis arnold called us after we had been told by the spirit that we should ask them if we could teach them the lessons so ray could get baptized and she asked if we would teach them all the lessons again and that they want to come back to church! :) How amazing is that?! They have been less active for quite sometime, they live most of the commandments but what a miracle! I just keep seeing all of them at the temple in white, how amazing that will be! On trade offs sis smith and I got to see the estrada family who also came to church on Sunday!! they are super cool too, they just have problems staying active, but she got new tires on her car and they were able to make it as well! That was such a blessing too, they speak Spanish and there is even someone that is able to translate for them! :) honestly, such an incredible Sunday! They cancelled last hour because of the snow so I didn't get to hear the lesson on peace but I love that, thank you for sharing with me! :) hopefully we get it next week, man I still and always will love that word peace. It's my very favorite. 

So this week we were able to have our zone conference in Midland!! That was fun we got to go back and see everything there! I was happy to go back! I drove all the way there too.. Oh man 2 and half hours of driving! Honestly the angels are so close when us missionaries drive because especially up here I do it a lot but every time we are safe and every time I am able to be alert and stay safe! :) The training was incredible, President and Sister Jacobsen and the assistants taught us and the spirit was seriously so strong. I got to bear my departing testimony which was completely insane to me, but it was great. I cried through part of it, Sis Jackson wrote down something I said , "My mission has been the hardest happiest thing I have ever done." It was such a bitter sweet moment, I just remember watching sis Smith gives hers and watching sis Nuttall go home, honestly though I just feel motivated to leave everything here in TC! I wish I could remember everything I bore my testimony about, all I know is that the spirit guided my words, I just bore my testimony about love, about the restoration, I said something about Satan and about how he tests everyone and that no one is immune but that through Christ we can do all things. The last thing I said was, " I know that I am not perfect, I know that I have many weaknesses but I know that as I turn to Jesus Christ and rely on His Atonement He will change me and help me become who He needs me to be. I know that through Christ I can do all things." It was super powerful, President afterwards spoke and talked about how all us missionaries that just bore their testimonies he knows we will stay faithful and strong in the faith forever and ever. It was incredible. <3 Such a tender day. 

So here are the answers to some of your questions something funny from this week.. hmm well the sisters totally got stuck in the snow in our backyard when they were leaving on Thursday night after the training!! haha so we got to push them out and dig out their jeep!! That was quite an adventure and man I bet quite the sight for all our neighbors!! 4 Girls in skirts pushing a jeep out!! haha :) 

Last night at the Howeses house, yes that's their name!! they have 11 kids and last night we got to go there and have dinner! It was so fun!! :) I played with the cute 3 youngest and it was just so fun!! I love kids! It reminded me of all the kids that is for sure! I can't believe how many kids they have! :) 

We met some great people this week! One cool experience was stopping by a less active, they weren't there but I really wanted to talk to someone so I was like we are going to go knock on a door! So we knocked on one door and this guy Zach opened the door and he talked to us for like 20 minutes and wants to learn more!! :) That was such a cool miracle to me, about following the spirit and following through with the goal I had set with Heavenly Father to talk to one of His children in that time period. So cool. We also got to push a Suburban out of the snow this week!! We pulled up to this street that we were going to knock and this guys suburban was stuck, he was pushing and his wife was in the car so of course we jumped right out and helped him push it right out, again he probably was like what the?! These two girls in skirts.. helping me but it was so so neat. The angels were so close right then, I know the were helping push that suburban. I love that the Lord will always send us where we need to be to help others. I have such a testimony of that. 

I also know I am going to cry more when I get home then I did when I left.. It's just something that I have looked forward to for so long and now it's going to be over, I just want to work my hardest and pray that I can just keep progressing when I get home. It's all good stuff, but also very hard. Man.. I guess that means I really love the people here and the Lord. 

As a mom, that made me cry, I am so happy she loves her mission and the people and especially her Heavenly Father. As much as i miss her, I wouldn't trade what she's learned, who she's become, how she's grown for anything. She is truly a better person in every way because of this experience!

This was her letter to everyone, it was also very cool!

KEEP CALM and CHERRY ON!!

Hey Everyone!! :) 

So today I want to talk about a fruit, yep that's right a fruit! :) Can you guess which fruit!? Cherries!!! :) So if any of you know me you know that I worked at a cherry factory for 3 summers before I left on my mission and if any of you have worked cherries, it is quite the adventure!! We worked 10 hour shirts, 6 days a week and it was a night shift too, so it was quite the job! It was hard, tiring, lots of work. But I got to work with some amazing people some of my best friends and I learned that no matter what we can always always do hard things and all we need to do is CHERRY or carry on! :) So this same principle goes with each of us throughout our own lives. Sometimes we have hard days, sometimes we may get down on ourselves, sometimes we may have less faith then others but I know that through Jesus Christ and the restored gospel that we all can continue to press forward with faith and keep hoping, not holding but hoping on! :) The gospel is for everyone, not just one but for everyone, but it's also perfectly tailored to the one! 

So now you may ask what made me think of cherries?! Well TC is the cherry capital of the world, yes the cherries honestly follow me everywhere! :) haha! they have an awesome cherry festival every year, they have lots of cherry factories and they have well lots and lots and lots of cherry trees, and the biggest plant is here in my area, not just in Traverse City but TC west side! :) How funny is that?! :) It gets better, this past week we had dinner with a member, yes we had cherries on our salad.. :D And then the member Brother Thomas asks where I am from and starts talking about Santaquin, where my dad works and where I grew up but I was like there must be another Santaquin because no one knows where Santaquin is.. but then he started talking about how his friend was here for CHERRY meeting and his friend of course happens to be one of my dad's patients, and was also my supervisor at cherries brother! The rowley family!! Isn't that insane?!?! :) The world is so small, such a neat way to remember cherries for the moment! 

In other news we got to push a suburban and a jeep out of the snow this week! :) That was awesome!! we definitely had help from the other side for those 2 adventures! We were able to be lead to some incredbile people this week and talk to so many of our brothers and sisters, we were able to bear our testimonies many times and church wasn't even cancelled because of the snow!! :) Which then we were able to have 23 less actives and investigators at church among the elders and us! That was amazing, I love the Sabbath day. It's my favorite day, the best day and being able to be there with so many amazing people that desire to follow their Savior was such a wonderful expereince! I love being a missionary, my time is quickly coming to an end to bear the Lords name on a name tag, however I know that forever and ever I will always bear my Saviors name on my heart and always be a missionary! :) The gospel is true, it blesses us more then we can even understand and truly we all will live with our Father in Heaven and our families again as we are obedient and rely on the Atonement of Jesus Christ!! I love you all and just remember to Cherry on!!!!! <3 

Love Sister Chisholm! <3 

We may or may not have a ton of SNOW!!!! <3 

#whitewinter #loveit 

It's Not about you!

Hey Everyone!!! :) 

So this weeks theme comes from the awesome new theme for the youth!!! :) Which steams from 2 Nephi 31:20 in the Book of Mormon about pressing forward!! :) So if you get the chance go check it out on youth.lds.org it's one of my favoirte songs! This is how the chorus goes.

"It's not about you.. It's not about you. It's for the people who are blessed by what you do." And then the song goes through about how the boy gets confirmed a member then when he receives his mission call and then when he gets home and has kids! :) So I love this song! It's so SO perfect, truly it's never about us. I have such a strong testimony of this, truly we are here in this life to bless others and to serve them. We will become who our Father in Heaven needs us to be as we serve others and lose ourselves helping them. So I wanted to share a couple experiences from this week that go right along with our theme for this week! :) 

First off I was able to go to a baptism for Trent, I was able to teach him while I was in Wyoming and it was such a blessing to be able to support him on his special day! But the first time we taught Trent and the reason he wanted to meet with missionaries was in his words, " because I want to serve and help others" I love that. Truly if all of us could have that kind of conviction that this recent convert has I know that world would be such a better place. Full of each of us serving and loving others! Trent is such a great example of not thinking about himself. 

The next one I thought about was the members here in TC!! They are always so willing to serve. We had a great branch council meeting yesterday morning where us and the elders really wanted to do splits but the branch was not completely agreeing but we felt that it was something our branch needed and when we brought it up in council everyone was so suppportive and desired to help us. They truly have forgotten about themselves, amidst all their lives, jobs and everything they go through they truly wanted to help us to accomplish the Lords work. I felt that truly was an example of not thinking about themselves. 

The last but most important that I have thought about this week is my Savior Jesus Christ. Truly He lived a perfect life, full of thinking of others. He never once complained He never once said well I need to do this.. He went about serving others and lifting them up. At the end of the song it says " Sure you've become much better because of what you have been through, but it's not about you." I know that our Savior truly did this. He went through it all but continued to give the Father all the glory. I am so grateful for His perfect example of service and I pray that each of us will strive to develop that attitiude of always serving and thinking of others and not of ourselves. 

I love this gospel. I know it's true! :) Our Father in Heaven can perform miracles he performs them in my life each and everyday, I know that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God and that the gospel has been restored and continues forth today! It will always stand!! Have a wonderful week!!! 

Love Sister Chisholm! <3 

 Amazing baptism of Trent!

 A fun reunion in the Wyoming ward with its newest member!

 The Elder's wrote "Sisters are cool" in the snow, pretty cute I think!

 Sledding with the Elders!

 Yummy grilled banana splits at a members house...yummy!

Apparently Sister Chisholm's smile has become quite a subject of conversation in her mission, its kind of an icon I guess! We love it because her smile is so contagious and radiates happiness!!!! So here's a pic of a SISTER CHIZZY smile on all their cute district's faces!!!!!

White Wonderland New Year!

Hello from the white wonderland of Traverse City Michigan!!!!! :D Here are a couple great things about the snow.. It's Beautiful!!!!! :D It's fun to take pictures in!!! People let us in because it's cold outside!!! And of course it's just so fun to have snow and to walk in it! haha I hope that wherever you are you get to enjoy the snow and look for the positive in it! On that note we rang in the New Year of 2016.... (holy cow where did 2015 go?!) With a ton of snow, with some fun members and missionaries and with sparkling cider! :) I am so grateful for the members here in Traverse City that help us to feel at home even when we are thousands of miles away! 2016 is going to be the best year ever and I know that if we decided to make it great it will be! :) So choose to make 2016 great, do all the things that the spirit tells you to do and be the best you can do! I know that we each can achieve greatness!! :) 

This week we had so many amazing things happen, honestly I just am learning or relearning if you will how simple the gospel is, and how truly we are called to represent Jesus Christ! On Wednesday we were able to have a great district meeting on setting goals (fitting right?) And it was amazing, defintiely one of the most spiritual district meetings I have been too and it helped me desire and want to do better! So Sis Jackson and I have been praying extra hard this week, working extra hard and of course being super obedient. The Lord is showing us that He trusts us and I am grateful for that! That night when we were having studies we decided to do training and comp study at the church so we practice taught a church tour and we practice found as well, but at one point while we were practice finding the elders and the assistants came in because they were on trade offs! So they decided to help us a bit with our finding which was fun, it's crazy to me how differently sisters and elders teach and find! We all do it right but it's just so different! Anyways one of the elders was talking about making finding more edifying and was teasing us about our finding and he was like if you need to just read a recite a scripture before every day and it will be better. Needless to say he was inspired because the next day sis jackson and I decided to take his idea and make it our own! :) We decided to read a scripture from the Book of Mormon before each door and then talk about that scripture with the person that we meet!! It's been amazing to see how much more edifying door knocking has been and how the spirit will guide us to say exactly what Heavenly Fathers children need! I am so thankful for the Book of Mormon and I know that truly it is the word of God! :D 

We had some great success as we have been reading from the Book of Mormon before each door and I know that the prophets are standing beside us and we testify of their words! I know that as we share what we know with our friends and share our testimonies with others we are blessed and the spirit will touch lives and hearts! :) Let's make 2016 a year of sharing, a year of serving and a year of change! I know that Jesus Christ lives and that the Atonement can cleanse all, no matter what we have done, no matter how far we think we have strayed no matter how many mistakes we have made I know that it all can be made clean by Jesus Christ. Repentance is not a bad thing, it is a great thing. It is the way that we can have pure joy! I am so grateful for repentance I am so grateful for the sacrament and I am so grateful to be a missionary and watch others understand and start to love the gospel as much as I do!!! 

I love you all!! Have a great week!!!! :D Make it the best!! 

Love Sister Chisholm! 

 Snow has arrived! I love this picture right by the Lake!

 Sweet, snowy girls!

 She got a little Arise and Shine Forth necklace from her brothers for Christmas, so she took a pic on a sunny day! Cute!

 Cute missionaries on New Years Eve. She said they rang in the New Year at exactly 9:35 so they could be home and in bed by 10:30. Gotta love these obedient missionaries!