Sept. 14 – Sept. 22, 2014
Holy Cow, this week
has been pretty crazy :)… crazy good, crazy bad, and crazy crazy! But its all
good because the Lord has it all planned out. Sometimes it would just be nice
to be able to push fast forward to see how the blessings all play out in the
end.
So the low down of
the week went something like this…
Tuesday (9/16/14):
As usual, today started
off looking like a solid day of teaching appointments. Then Satan decided to
kick in, making people who we had previously GQ’d, no show for their teaching
appointments at the branch! Satan is such an annoying dude!! I love being a
missionary in the city because I love meeting so many different people
everyday. However, one of the problems being a “city missionary” is when we
schedule appointments with investigators, they have to come to the branch for
their lessons, we are not able to teach them anywhere else… That’s why we get a
lot of no shows. Anyways, let just say that up until about 6 PM it was a tough
day.
This is our Melbourne 2nd International Branch.
We meet on the first floor of the Ozford House Building.
Sometimes as missionaries,
I get the feeling the Lord is testing our patience, and if we pass the test He
rewards us with a tender mercy! Well I guess Elder N and I passed the test
because our last appointment of the day actually showed up! His name is S and
he is from Indonesia. He is a student working here in Melbourne, but goes home often
to see his family in Indonesia! Well, the lesson went SOLID, and the spirit was
so strong! By the end of our appointment we were able to commit him to a
baptismal date of October 4th! Nothing like ending your day on a HIGH! Oh
how I love those “tender mercies.”
Wednesday (9/17/14):
Today was a good
day. D (the totally KEEN AS guy I baptized last week) took us to lunch and we
just had a good time :) I totally love that Cambodian!! He is a Spiritual
Giant! It’s amazing to witness the conversion of one of God’s children. In
fact, I kind of feel like D’s “spiritual parent” as Elder N and I continue to
meet with him to strengthen his already firm foundation in the gospel… It makes
me so happy just thinking about it :)
Elder N, D, and Me eating lunch in the Branch... Yum Yum!
It’s funny how
today was such a contrast to yesterday… I witnessed many miracles today! Even
to the extent of having a complete stranger come into the branch because he
wanted to know more about Jesus Christ! Seriously? Yesterday we couldn’t have
paid people to come to their scheduled appointments, and today they’re walking
into the branch unsolicited! The Lord definitely prepares his children in all
different ways! Of course no day is complete without a little GQing. So we GQed
a man today by the name of N. He is visiting from India and seemed to be super
Keen… or so we thought at the time. I’ll come back to N when I get to Friday.
Thursday (9/18/14):
Thursday was
probably the craziest day of my whole mission! Well actually, just the night
time :) So it started off with Elder N and I going to a member’s house to give
her a blessing. I did the anointing of the oil and what a great experience that
was! The Spirit is so noticeable when you are exercising your priesthood
authority!
After the blessing,
we had Zone Interviews. This is where President Maxwell meets with the Elders
individually to see how their missions are going. My interview was the last
interview of the day and because President Maxwell was running about 2 hours behind
schedule, and he had other appointments, my interview got cut pretty short. No
worries though, I really don’t have any concerns about my mission :) It’s just
all so GREAT! Following the interviews, Elder N had to give a baptismal
interview for the Vietnamese Elders in our area. The interview was about an
hour away so we hustled in order to get there on time! The interview went
good, but it went waaaayyy long. In fact, it went so long, Elder N and I knew
there was no way we were going to make it back to our flat in time to make our 9:30
PM curfew. I guess we could have prayed for a miracle, but we like to save
those “phone calls” for when we’re GQing :)
Weekly planning with Elder N... We go HARD with the PLANS!
So what do you do
as missionary, when you want to be 100% obedient, and you know that you are NOT
going to make curfew? You get creative and get a sleep over approved at the
nearest missionary flat! Talk about a crazy night! I had NOTHING but the
clothes on my back! Sorry mom, I didn’t brush my teeth J But you know, the Lord watches over us and blesses us
regardless of the situation. Man, the things you do on a mission to be exact in
your obedience :)
Friday (9/19/14):
Today was a great
day:) Come to think of it, most days are great here on my mission. I really feel
like I can choose how my days are going to go. Sure, every day I get rejected
over and over and over again. BUT, at the end of the day, that just drives me
to find someone even better to GQ. MAN I LOVE THIS WORK!!!
Nothing like a Milky Joe to get you going on a cold Melbourne morning. (We got free chocolate from the local Milky Joe Coffee House... Hopefully people didn't think we were missionaries needing a lesson about the Word of Wisdom) Hahaha.
So you remember N,
the guy we GQ’d on Wednesday. Well, we had set up an appointment to teach him
today at the Branch. N made it to his appointment, which is always a great
first step J. We taught him a little more about baptism, which went
very well. He told us if God wanted him to be baptized, he would be baptized! N
also said he would love to come to a baptism on Saturday so he could witness
one before he was baptized. WOW, what more could a missionary ask for!
Saturday (9/20/14):
Saturday was quite
disappointing... We waited for N at the baptism for about 45 minutes and he never
showed... Since he is just visiting Melbourne for a short time he doesn't have
a cell phone which meant we had no way of following up with him... so that was
pretty sad, and put a damper on the day because he seemed sooo KEEN!
If there’s one
thing I’ve learned as a missionary, it’s that the Lord is KEEN to our needs,
and works in great ways:) When Elder N and I got back to the flat tonight,
waiting for me was the package of pictures from the family. Talk about making
up for a kinda crappy day! It boosted my spirit and made me feel sooooooo
HAPPY. I never thought I would love pictures so much. I’ve always been a “live
in the now” kind of guy. But can I just say “I LOVE PICTURES!!! Keep them
coming! I just look at all of them every night. Did I mention how much I love
pictures :)
I LOVE PICTURES!
Sunday (9/21/14):
So today I gave my
first talk as a full time missionary! It was pretty righteous if I say so
myself. I spoke on 2 Nephi 31:20, where it talks about feasting upon the words
of Christ. Writing this talk totally strengthened my testimony of the Book of
Mormon… heaps! I would encourage everyone that is reading this letter to PRAY every
time before you open the Book of Mormon! Think of questions you have and are
looking for answers to. Then, instead of just reading the Book of Mormon, truly
feast upon the words of the Prophets! I promise you if you will approach your
scripture study in this manner, you will gain a better understanding of what
the Prophets in the Book of Mormon are trying to teach us! I know it worked for
me!
To wrap up our Sunday
we met a man named P. P seems interested in the gospel and expresses a desire to
give up his casual drug use in order to make a change. The desire to change is
Keen when trying to over come any kind of addiction… especially drugs. Stay
tuned. We’ll see how it goes. P accepted the goal of baptism for the 18th of
October! You always have to begin with the goal in mind.
I Love you all so
much. Know I am praying for you from the land down under!!
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