Spring is in the air!

Tues. Oct. 28 – Sun. Nov. 2, 2014

Hola! Spring is in the air (not to rub it in or anything.. ha ha ha). Hope everything is all good in the hood. Thank you all so much for your support on my mission! I feel your prayers on my behalf every day!

Now for the down beat!

Tuesday (10/28/14)

C (the 17 year old who wants to get baptized but whose mother isn’t crazy about him becoming a Mormon) brought a friend named K to our lesson today. He is also from South Korea and is learning English. We had a good discussion, but still no change in C’s mom’s attitude towards him getting baptized. We just keep praying that her heart will be softened, and that C will continue with his interest in the gospel.

We also taught L today about how God gives us commandments to help us (L is the one who we’ve been trying to help stop smoking). We told him he needs to set a goal for this coming Tuesday and give up his smokes!!! He knows he needs to give up his 30 cigs a day, and wants to, but it’s tough… we just keep praying for him.

Then we taught H, he is from Pakistan, and is one of the most humble men I have ever met in my life! I don’t know that anything will ever come from our discussion, but I sure got a first hand view of true humility.

Had a teaching appointment near the beach...

...it was nice to smell the ocean again!

Wednesday (10/29/14)

In the City it is Exam Period.... So the university students are super focused on their tests, and they really don’t want to talk with us much on the streets.  It’s like they are all in their own little "study trances!! Hahaha (sorry if I ever looked or acted like that during finals Mom and Dad). We did have 2 good lessons today. The first one was with C and his friend K (the ones we taught yesterday). We showed them a movie about the Plan of Salvation in Korean. It is really building C’s faith to be able to translate what we are saying to his friend K. It’s a blessing this is happening for him.

We also taught C, the one from Malaysia.  He is still trying to believe there is a God... he says the peace he feels when he prays, is the same peace he feels when he meditates. That’s a tough one. I know the Lord will help him figure it out… just another hurdle the Lord will help us as missionaries jump over:)

Thursday (10/30/14)

I was on exchanges today with Elder N (not my companion, but a different Elder N). He is a really fun Missionary to be around, and I learned so much from him! He told me to come up with object lessons that will involve my investigators more; so I have been thinking of ways I can do that! I think it was a really wise suggestion!

We read in the Book of Mormon with L today and told him to start praying for the will to stop smoking! It’s going to be tough... He has been smoking about 30 cigs a day for about 30 years! BUT, like we taught today, if you have sincere faith in the Lord, He can help you accomplish anything!

Next we taught a guy from Thailand named A. His English is quite limited so it’s pretty hard teaching him. However, the language barrier definitely forces you to teach really simple doctrine… which is sometimes very hard to do! haha But he is KEEN! He just wants to learn everything about the gospel!… he definitely came to the right place :)

Friday (10/31/14) 

IT’S HALLOWEEN!!!! My 1st big holiday on my own... I’m not going to lie, It kinda stunk really bad!!! Haha. It was just super different. We always had such fun as a family; and to make it even harder, the Aussies don’t really celebrate Halloween… double whammy!  Oh well, grateful to be a missionary, even with all of the sacrifices as well as the blessings.

I think I can safely say that I own the only Halloween tree in all of Australia...Thanks Mom and Dad for making my Halloween great!

In between reminiscing about past Halloween Holidays, Elder N (my actual companion) and I taught M, the Kenyan minister. It was such an amazing lesson that I literally forgot about my Halloween woes. He is soooo ready to be baptized, but we are going to wait until the 15th of November so the Branch President can be at the Baptism. When we taught M the Word of Wisdom today, he just said “ya I need to change, and I will change!” He has really accepted that Elder N and I are servants of the Lord, and the things we are teaching are from God! That is the power of the Spirit testifying of the truthfulness of the gospel!

Saturday (11/1/14)

I went on another exchange today. This time it was with Elder C. He’s from Orem and is soooo awesome!! Man, I had a blast with him! We were able to joke around and have a great time while keeping the Spirit alive and happy!! We taught another lesson to C (the guy from Malaysia)... He still feels there isn't a God because his prayers aren't being answered... It was kind of a tough lesson, but I feel at the end he came out feeling closer to Christ, which is our main goal as missionaries! We will be meeting with him again next week so we’re hoping it gets better :)

We had a Culture night activity at the Branch this evening! It was my first ward party as a missionary! It was pretty fun. A bunch of the US missionaries represented America. We scrounged around our flats to find things that represented our culture. So if you summed up our US culture based on our awesome display portraying life as an American, you would have walked away thinking that Americans are Gatorade drinking, Pop Tart popping, Froot Looping, Mac and Cheese eating, Frisbee throwers, that love their flag, Sour Patch Kids and brand new boxes of Crayola Crayons… oh ya, we threw in a stack of Book of Mormons and a Joseph Smith Restoration pamphlet because that’s what we Americans (with a black name badge) here in Australia are really all about. Over all, it was a pretty fun party:)

Come on and sing it with me... "I'm proud to be an American!" 

Sunday (11/2/14)

Just your everyday normal Sunday... BUT, L (our friend who’s trying to quit smoking) did bring a friend to church! It was really cool to see him enjoy coming to church so much that he wanted to bring someone else! And not only did he surprise us by bringing a visitor with him to church, but he was also in a SUIT!!!! I mean this was a shocker to be honest! I think he has worn the same shirt every single lesson we’ve had (not that it matters). It was just totally an AWESOME surprise! It ‘s amazing how people react to the Spirit :)… And to make matters even BETTER, I got to wear my Fast Sunday Tie today! Hope Dad and Talmage enjoyed their ties as much as I did :)

Holy cow! My 3rd Fast Sunday in Australia!

A good week overall! I feel really blessed, and I am excited to see what next week will bring!