It was a pretty good day today! We had the normal canceled appointments but we taught a new girl named S from Nepal! It was a really good lesson and she was really accepting of what we were teaching her. Unfortunately, she is going home for the Christmas holiday… BUMMER. Then we taught F and it was really cool. At first, we weren’t sure if he truly had a desire to learn from us, but as the lesson progressed, he told us he really wanted to learn about the gospel, to know for himself whether or not it is true!
Then out of the blue, an investigator from when I first arrived here in Melbourne texted us. Her name is N and she said she wanted to start back up with the missionary lessons! SWEET! That really is the power of the light of Christ with people who are investigating the church! As a missionary it’s always hard to have people tell you they do not want to learn about the gospel anymore; but then they realize they are truly missing something, and come back because they want to again feel the warmth the gospel brought into their lives!
Wednesday (12.10.14):
We went on another Exchange today with Elder P (the one from Vietnam). We taught an ABV (Australian Born Vietnamese) named A that has had a lot of Trauma in his life. We taught him a really simple lesson on the love of God, and it went pretty well. Anytime people feel the Spirit during a lesson, I consider it a success.
Would you believe it if I told you I almost got to perform a wedding ceremony today! hahaha An Afghani and Vietnamese couple came into the branch asking to be “religiously married”! Well I figured “I can do that!” So we got to congratulating them on their decision to get married, and how marriage can extend beyond this earth life… well, come to find out, they actually had come to the wrong church! hahaha and were looking to be married by a Father! I was like, “Sorry, I’m not a Father, only an Elder!” Funny thing is, somewhere in Melbourne there was a Father wondering where his bride and groom were.
Thursday (12.11.14):
Today was just a normal missionary day! We taught L, and he said he was going to try to give up smoking again… this time on Christmas, as his Christmas gift to God! I’ve got to hand it to the guy for his persistence in trying to quit smoking. We will definitely exercise our faith, once again, that he can quit. Later as I was GQing (Golden Questioning… street contacting) in downtown Melbourne I had the opportunity, while sitting on a park bench, to teach a Chinese man about prayer. I love teaching the principle of prayer. The Spirit is always so strong when a person prays for the very first time!
Later in the day we taught a Persian man named Farhat! The first time I met him was on a train. When I introduced myself, and asked him his name, the noise from the train, along with his strong accent and limited grasp of the English language, led me to believe he had said his name was “Fart”. How do you appropriately respond to that? I’m just glad we were quickly able to clear the air (no pun intended) and teach him about the gospel! Ha ha ha.
We also taught an awesome Australian born Indonesian named K. He has been coming to our institute class for a little while, and reads the Bible in Hebrew! Over the past 3 weeks, he has also read the entire Book of Mormon! He is so nice and very intelligent! We shared the Restoration of the Gospel lesson with him to support the importance of the Book of Mormon! Our discussion went super well. In fact, it went so well that K took my companions and I out for dinner afterwards! Man, what a sweet trade… the gospel for goodies! :) For dinner we had NY style pizza and BIG juicy burgers all around! It was DELICIOUS!!! Nothing like being both spiritually and physically fed! Ha ha ha
K took Elder O, N and me out for an AWESOME meal of pizza and burgers!
Today was the Melbourne Mission Christmas Party! It was actually really fun! The whole mission, except for Tazzy (Tasmania) was there so there were HEAPS ( 300+) of missionaries! We had a missionary talent show that was definitely entertaining, and then they actually let us watch “How to Train a Dragon 2”! It was awesome seeing a movie! However, it made me a little sad because the last time I saw that movie (in June) I was Cruising the Caribbean with the family... Oh well, to cope with the intense sorrow, I just thought of the next cruise we would go on when I get home! After the movie, we had a dinner that was very nice, and then we got our presents! HOLY COW!!!!! Thank you so much for all the packages! I definitely felt like I had died and gone to heaven. You guys are the best!
One of my Kaysville Homies, Elder G, at the Missionary Christmas Party.
I couldn't believe my eyes... Christmas down under looks GREAT!
Saturday (12.13.14)
I can’t believe I’ve been out for 4 Months! Dang, where did the time go? Well, Christmas miracles do happen. Tonight N showed up at the branch. She was the young lady that we taught on Tuesday who said she wanted to start back up with the missionary lessons. Well, N said she had prayed about what we had taught her, and that DECEMBER 20th is the day she needs to be Baptized! AHHHHH!... another Baptism’ and it is NEXT WEEK! It is amazing how the Lord works!
My 4 month mark! CRAZY!
I still have mixed feelings about Sundays because I am always stressed about whether our investigators are going to show up! I guess I just need to take a deep breath and do like mom and dad always said… “dude, chillax”… (the combination of chilling and relaxing). We had a good turn out to Sacrament though! We had 5 people show up! I guess I need to “chillax” more often. I also got to bless the sacrament! It was a really cool experience being able to performance this ordinance as a missionary! After church I went to the Stake Center to prepare for our Heidelberg Stake Christmas Devotional! It was a great night of singing, and spiritual messages! It was also really fun to be able to sing in the Choir under the direction of President Maxwell’s wife. Before coming to Melbourne Sister Maxwell sang in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and is a very talented lady.
Well, another super week as a missionary. Definitely looking forward to seeing the family (literally) during our Christmas Eve/Day Skype! Thanks for everything you are doing to support me on my mission! Families are the greatest!
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