So Legit!

Hahaha yeah so it was crazy! At church we were in Elders Quorum and it just finished and I met Brother Brown... So I was like koo, koo, nice name. And he said he was from NZ and I was like, Awh I lived in NZ for a bit!... He was like where?... Wellington.... Where in Wellington?.... Paraparaumu.... :o.... You know my brother!!! Hahaha, so yeah it's Albies brother! And I was like, I even stayed at your house and met your sister, Lizzy! He was just like?... Lizzy?... Cmon.. we just call her "girl".. its much simpler hahaha. He's crack up as just like Albie. But yeah I got transferred to Gosford... But it's in the Newcastle Zone... So yeah they are 2 different places!...

But yeah I shallst tell you about my area... we're basically starting from scratch. But it's a good challenge... and we already saw blessings of working hard in just 1 week! I'll share with you some experiences:

Tuesday: So Elder U (from Hamilton, NZ) and I were going to Newcastle to go on trade-offs with the ZL's and we missed the train by like 1 min! So the next one wasn't for an hour... so I was bored as... It's completely different from the City... hundreds of people to talk to down to none hahaha. So I saw this 1 guy in the whole station so I was like SWEET! Let's talk to him! And it turns out.. he actually slept in and missed his stop so he was there for an hour too... During that time we got our scriptures and full out taught him a lesson right there on the train platform! It was so legit! Then we grabbed his number and jumped on our train... then the next day

Wednesday: Me and my ZL were trying to get to our appointment (only like 3 min walk away) and it took us 20mins! We were always stopped by people talking to us! The first girl stopped us and she was like "Missionaries!!" And we talked to her, she was from Chile and her parents were Mormons...but she wasn't baptized... we were like "we can help you with that" :) And she even knew a Less Active family in their ward in Newcastle so she said she could invite them to come and go with her! Re-activate a family and baptize someone = WIN! Then on the way back from our trade-off we were on the train back and my companion was on the phone... then a phone rung in my pocket... and I looked at it.... looked at my companion on our phone... then was like... ah heck... this is the Zone Leaders phone.... So we lived like 1hour 30mins away from them and didn't know how to organize it... but after thinking, we were gonna get off at the next stop and have them drive to this stop to pick it up.... As we were waiting to get off... I was reading my scriptures and I heard this posh as English acccent "What book are you reading?"... And I looked up and I was like.... The Bible..... And he was like.. "No duh... I know the Bible.. what scripture?"... Hahaha I told him it was Corinthians and he was like "My favorite is proverbs" hahaha, so I told him about missionaries and right before we got off, I got his number so he can meet with us! Then as we were waiting in this town called "Cockles Creek" this punk teenager came and he said he ran away from his boys home hahaha, so we just helped him and make sure he didn't get killed and gave him a pass along card lolz. But on the way home this Canadian girl got on and she was going to the city and I gave her the address to the church in the city and she said she would go! Yayyy!!! so I was just surprised that in the bush there's still so many people that are interested... so it was really cool!

So one cool miracle we had Thursday: We were walking home in the rain about an hour and a half away... and our dinner appointment was in 45mins... so we stopped in the middle of the road and said a prayer that we would get there in time! And just as we said amen... we walked for about 30secs. and this guy was like "Elders!!! Get in I'll give you a ride!" We were like YUSSSS!!! And it turns out he's Seventh Day Adventist but he grew up with Mormons and he gave us his number to come and speak to all the youth at this program he does! WOO! ... but yeah this area is legit! We even went tracting in the rain for 4 hours with no umbrella, WIN!

No Regrets

The last week of transfers everything right happened.... We were able to take an absolute dead area and build it up with people to teach, miracles and baptisms.... We were able to teach Y's Father and his girlfriend! We got to work with this member who had been struggling recently and seriously out of nowhere told us she decided to serve a mission and put in her papers! And everything was just going great.... On the morning of transfer calls... I read Alma 5.... And I personalized it to myself.... in verses 14-20 alone.. he asks 11 questions... all in which I personalized.... it asks like could you lie before God saying your works were righteous?... And I changed it... Can I lie before God saying I gave my all in this part of His vineyard? etc... And at the end of finishing it.... I knew I was leaving.... I had had no regrets... I gave everything I could and served the best to my ability..... And so had my fellow Zone Leader, ... and my Trainer, Elder A....At the time, I was on Trade-Offs with my ZL... and he told me about transfers before anyone else.... and we just cried.... not tears of pure sadness... it was mixed emotions... but because we had given our all in this area... In Mosiah 4:24 or 25.. I forget, it says... "I give cause I don't have... but if I had, I would give.."... And everything we had to give.... the Harbour City YSA branch has..... it's hard to explain... but at the same time... I knew it was time to move on... Because the week before in interviews with president... I asked him like "I feel like I'm not living up to my full potential president.... How do I fully lose myself?"... And he smiled.... and now the Lord has his hand in it. And so with that question I asked president... and even the Lord countless times... He has answered my question.... He's giving me challenges so I can live up to my potential.... leaving the City absolutely killed me... I have so much love for all the members there... every single one... but everything was inspired.... And the answer to my question came by being shotgunned into Gosford in Newcastle. It's got the most beautiful scenery!! But yeah I'm excited for this new area... IT SHOULD BE REALLY EXCITING! I get to work with families and stuff now! One of the reasons why I wanted to come on a mission, so yayyy!! I'll definitely have some stories next week.... I EVEN GET TO GO TRACTING!.... It's been 7&1/2 months and I've never knocked on a single door... I'ma go tracting like 8 hours a day to make up the time hahaha.

Seek Guidance From The Lord

Holaaaaa! I'm emailing a little early because we're going to see kangaroos today!!!! Transfers are actually this week and we went to the temple last week!! We had interviews with President this past week.... I could just tell he was vibing me out and receiving revelation to where I'm going..... I think I'm amen this transfer... probs going to the bush or something...

Anywho this week was seriously miraculous! Our whole zone has been down in morale for some reason and even members in the branch are depressed and the work has been going pretty slow as well.... and I had just read a talk by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland from ages ago... about 1999... He talks of the exact situation we're in now.... Right before things get good.... the adversary strikes... Such as the First Vision.... not long into Joseph Smith's prayer.. the adversary had held him bound... seeming he would be doomed for destruction... but then exerting his strength to call upon God... a pillar of light came down..... Another example... Moses... He saw God face to face... and saw the whole earth and every spirit as God could see.... then Satan came and impersonated Jesus saying he was the only begotten and to worship him..... Moses began to fear and called upon God as well.....And then Satan was commanded to depart..... Satan ALWAYS knows when the most good is about to happen and will do everything within his power to stop and discourage whoever it is... whether you are preparing to go on a mission or anything... Likewise for this week.... we realized our teaching pool was super low... and there's either 2 ways you can react from realizing you have no one to teach... #1.... Be depressed and let the adversary work on you and fall into a hole of self pity..... or #2.... Seek guidance from the Lord.... And I picked #2 :) So I was making calls to try and set up appointments when I realized we had no one to teach... so I prayed and asked what I should do.... The thought came into my head "Well don't just sit there... go out and do something..." And so I prayed to know where to go!... And the distinct impression came.. "ELIZABETH STREET!"... So I told my companions, "GET UP, WE'RE GOING FINDING!" And mind you it's like 8:40pm... we only had like 20 minutes... so we all went and 5 minutes in... I found this Japanese guy that wanted to come... so I was pumped as, like WOOOOOOO!!!!! As he was writing his number down... I got a text from our Golden Investigator- ... She basically texted us she didn't want to meet anymore... So with this bittersweet moment I just wanted to cry hahahah. It's like... great.. my prayer was answered... but now our baptismal date just bailed on us... But it didn't phase me I still had faith we would get her back... later during the week... long story short.. we met with her and...... SHE AGREED TO KEEP MEETING WITH US! Yayyyy!!! The spirit really worked on her and even though her natural man didn't want to meet with us... she searched herself and realized this has been making her the most happy she's been.... Miracles!!! And I even had one crazy experience....

We were finding for about 2 hours at UTS and then came to Chinatown... I was standing at a stoplight and straight across the street was this girl that stood out and I felt I should talk to her.... but as I waited for the light my companions told me to come another direction so I couldn't talk to her..... now about an hour later I stood at that same stoplight... AND SAW THE SAME EXACT GIRL STANDING THERE!... I was like... :O.... Deja Vu!.... And so I quickly went to talk to her once the light turned green and it turned out she was keen as!! She grew up in a catholic school but hated it and felt God was somewhere else... and was still trying to find Him... So I got her number and we set up an appointment later this week...

Later on during the day... I met this guy!!! Straight from saying "Helllo" to him we just hit it off... he was so super friendly and just awesome!! And so I invited him to come and see the church and we gave him a tour around... and we had a lesson with him and during it we taught the whole restoration.. introduced the book of mormon.. and committed him to be baptized.... Without even hesitating.. he said "I really don't have a choice.. If Jesus told me to follow Him... I must do that... And I would love to!" And he even already believed in the Book of Mormon! Hahaha it was just miraculous!... And so this whole past week everyone was depressed and going through trials... Satan knows how to work with people... but if you call upon God and keep working and pressing forward... that's when the good happens! Remember that ;)You have to overcome the bad first before you can experience the good... that way Heavenly Father knows he can trust you.... Love you byeeeeeeee!!!

Nothing Better On Earth...

So now to explain C and D.... Elder I.. he was one of my best friends in the Zone my first 2 transfers and then he got transferred to Newcastle... And during his time here in the City he found this Chinese guy named C... And it was actually a miracle... C went outside to walk that day thinking of what kind of person he was and how he could improve.. and was sad because he didn't know how to change... and then he met Elder I and came in to learn about the gospel... he was progressing so well until he moved back to china :'( .... Then I think I told you.. last week he called us and wanted to meet again!! And he even brought his friend D and we had a lesson with them... It was probably THEE most spiritual lesson I had all week (and I taught heaps this week)... They opened up so much and they were both SO prepared!... C shared with us that experience of him meeting Elder I... and there was a pause.... and the Spirit filled the room... in that instant we committed them to be baptized and C eagerly accepted.... D... paused and said "Does baptism mean showing your faith in God to follow Him and become a Christian?"... And we were like o.O ..... Uhh..... yes... yes it does!!.... And he pondered it and then accepted as well!! It was just a great experience of seeing that no effort is ever wasted.... Elder I at this very moment.. probably still thinks C is in China and praying one day he'll learn again... when really he's now preparing himself for baptism... so this was a testimony builder to me that ANYONE you may share the gospel with... whether it's 3 months later like in this situation or 3 years later.... no effort is ever wasted and everyone has hope.

I gotta be quick though I got like 10mins left... This week was full of miracles... So lately in the area I'm serving in.. There's been HUGE retention problems... due to the amount of baptisms we have each month, 3/4 of the branch is recent converts and so there isn't many strong members to help fellowship them to stay strong... So HEAPS of people have been going less active... even our goldens... from our area :( And so we weren't in contact with them for a while and even on Sunday I had my FIRST normal missionary experience where I got to go hunt someone down in their house... but he wasn't home... in fact it was a fake address :'( so we were a bit crushed... but this past week we were able to see ALL of them on the street and set up appointments with them!! There's even this really nice girl N who was less active for all her life and we just re-activated her and shes been coming to church!!! And it's just been exciting for me because in the City we don't get to participate in re-activating at all... our role here is usually just to find,teach,find,teach,find,teach! So on top of this I had really cool finding experiences as well... I met this guy who was getting yelled at by his boss on the phone and I talked to him and he said after he talked to me he felt so calm and relaxed and wanted to come and learn! And I also met a professional snow boarder who had been prepared by the hands of angels!!! Everything he said sounded like an apostle hahaha! So we will meet with him as well. Just an all around good week in missionary work! And then we got to go to the temple this morning which is always spiritual! Seriously there's absolutely nothing better on the earth than doing missionary work... It is the most satisfying thing you could ever do!! When you get to love it so much nothing else even matters... When I even think of going home or listening to music etc. I just feel sick... I'm going to be a missionary forever... Serve a 13 year mission like Ammon!!!

God Loves All His Children

So lately me and my companions (plural) hahah. We've been talking about how the more diligent we are and the more we align our will with the Lord's and show him we're willing to sacrifice things etc... then will he entrust us with more of his children (more people to teach)... And so we've been trying to do that lately to be more diligent and this week we saw some major results!!! So just some background.... M... he's a super golden investigator we met a month ago and we committed him to baptism the first lesson.. but the next week he went to Melbourne for travel and we lost contact with him for about a month.... Then another investigator J..  left to Korea  last week..... But this week we got a call from M after a month of no contact and he said he was back and wanted to meet with us still! And we met up with him and he was still KEEN AS! He remembered everything we taught him the 1st lesson, he was praying.. and still wanted to be baptized!!!#Miracle.... Then during our English Class we got a call from an unknown number... so I stepped out for a sec to take it and it turns out... J... right before he left... he told his friend if she could do anything for him... it was to call us and go to our church... And so here we were on the phone with her! And she was Korean so I gave the phone to my companion Elder J... and he was confused like "Do you want to learn about English?"... And she replied "English?!... What English?! I want to learn about the church!"... Hahahah it was so insane!!! And along with her we met another guy named D and set baptismal dates with both of them that same night!.... The Lord's been pouring out blessings upon us.... But like anything in life... Sacrifice brings blessings... In football.. that guy who stays after practice doing sprints and reviewing plays etc. will prosper in gameday... such is the same in missionary work... as we've been diligent and sacrificing some necessary things we've been prospering in the Lord's work... And nothing left is to say but..... WOOOOOOO! Haha.

Usually we have baptisms every Saturday night but the branch changed it so it's only twice a month now...So now we have nothing to do on Saturday nights... So we go finding!!! It's super sketch cause all the drunk people are out... But we convinced my companion Elder O (the one on crutches) to come with me and Elder J to go finding at Belmore Park.  But anyways... I was finding and started talking to this homeless guy.... He first asked me for the time so I told him "6:45" or whatever and was walking away... but then I felt impressed to talk with him and at first I was like... What the heck I don't wanna talk to a bogan hahaha. But that morning I read a talk "Be Anxiously Engaged" And "Consider the Blessings" in the last general conference and so the first talk said every day we should ask ourselves "Have I done any good in the world today?" "Have I helped anyone in need" And "Consider the Blessings" talked about being an answer to other peoples prayers... And so I prayed that morning to help someone... so as I went back to talk to him, he opened up like crazy and said how his life has been a failure and he's an alcoholic etc.. And I taught him the plan of salvation right there and he just stopped for a second and smiled and was like "Thank you.... thank you so much!! I really needed this!" And I gave him my number and invited him to church and left... And so I left the park that day with such a good feeling... And being able to answer "yes" to those questions at the end of the day.... God loves all his children... even if they are bogans... haha.  

A lot of good things happening

This week was swell... A lot of good things happening... This past Wednesday I went on Trade-Offs with this fresh as missionary.. He's only been out 3 weeks, but it was super fun! Our theme for our trade-off was setting inspired goals... And so we set the goal of pulling 2 people off of the street to show them the church (equivalent to tracting and having 2 people let you in to teach)... So we were busy the whole morning and we had little finding time... but it was getting near the end of the day.. And we had 1 hour left to pull 2 people off.... So we said a prayer and the moment we walked outside the Teaching Center we saw this Japanese guy looking a bit lost so we went and talked to him.. and turns out he had heard about our Church that we teach Free English here and wanted to learn more about it... AND... he was waiting outside for his friend to come with him!!!.... So we talked to him and his friend came and we showed them around church and taught them and accomplished our goal!!!! That testified to me that God has a will.... and if we align our will with His having faith to accomplish it... it shall be done... So it was a really cool experience especially for him as well... a brand new missionary... and now he learned the importance of setting goals in faith! 
Now for story time... So this Saturday J... was baptized!!! But it was so funny for real... because he was so nervous I was just using that to my advantage hahaha, cause obviously if you're sympathetic in this situation it's going to make it worse... so I would just make random comments... Like we were entering the chapel and there was a black cat... I was like "Ohhh J... you know what that means?..." What?... "That's bad luck, maybe we should go home!"... And he just started laughing out of nervousness hahah. And I told him "Ohh J... did you know... last year someone died in this baptismal font.." Hahaha. But he got over his nerves and was fine... But it was really cool... our Elders Quorum President gave a talk saying 13 years ago he was baptized and the missionaries were 40 minutes late so the water was freezing cold.. and he related it to Wilford Woodruff when he was baptized... They broke open a frozen river and he was baptized in there and he hugged the other person and said "I don't feel the cold brother... I don't feel the cold"... And he said when he was baptized he felt immediately warm when he went into the water.... and the spirit of promise confirmed to him that the ordinance was true.... And the same happened to J!!.... Before we entered the water I read him Alma 7:15, And that was so cool because that's one of the scriptures that helped him get over his fear... and then we actually did what it said at the end!.... and we entered the water and it was COLD AS!!!..... But once he was baptized and we went into the changing room he just started laughing and hugged me and was like "I feel so hot!!!! I'm so happy!!!!" And he got down and started doing push ups and was just laughing and was seriously on a happy high hahaha, he even told me he wished he never postponed his baptism because this feeling was so incredible!.... It was such a great experience though to witness!!!.... He's a such a good guy! 

Humbled

This week was really good!! Transfers were yesterday, I keep on dodging bullets, I'm still in the city with Elder J and Elder O. So I'll have been in the city 7 1/2 months after this one so I'm pretty sure this is my last transfer here so I'm gonna try to work hard as. And something I thought was pretty cool, in the 6 months I've been in the city I counted all the lessons I've had with different nationalities.... And these statistics alone will prove to you that I got sent to Asia... not Australia hahaha. Chinese:114/ Thai:105/ Korean:49/ Aussie:38/ Vietnamese:18/ Russian:6/ Taiwanese:4/ English:4/ French:4/ Peruvian:4/ Indonesian:4/ Italian:3/ Brazilian:3/ Japanese:3/ Filipino:3/ Canadian:1/ Hong Kongese:1/ Norwegian:1/ Kiwi:1..... With a total number of lessons to 366. So only 38/366 lessons have been with Aussies.... so if Ashley or anyone is expecting me to have a "hot Aussie accent"... expect more like broken English when I come back hahaha.

So we have this investigator named J from Korea... And he was supposed to be baptized 2 or 3 weeks ago but got scared and backed out.... We set another date for January 12th and have been preparing him.... until he said AGAIN he was scared and didn't want to.... So we had a lesson with him and we spent the WHOLE lesson... like 45 minutes just trying to resolve his concern... and I don't exactly remember what was said... but I know the Lord put in our mouths what we needed to share with him... And mind you we have done this a few times before.... and I shared with him again Alma 7:15... (that scripture smashed him) He said he knew God was speaking to him and the spirit testified to him that he needed to be baptized and he was ready.... And finally he accepted!!!! And it was so funny, one of our recent converts L.... he yelled out "FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!" And in between our conversations with him L was smashing him!!! He was so funny, he was so frustrated just yelling at him "OH MY GOODNESS! YOU'RE NOT GOD! YOU'RE HUMAN BEING, YOU AREN'T PERFECT!!! JUST GET BAPTIZED, GOODNESS!!" hahahah, and he even added in this which came out of nowhere..... "COME ON!!! DO YOU WATCH MODERN FAMILY?! THE COLOMBIAN MOM? SHE'S HOT GIRL!" And I was just like.... WHAT?!?!?! hahahahaha.... and even though it may sound funny and not really spiritual.... everything together just mixed together so well.... like the whole lesson wasn't just serious and us being stern.... And that testifies the quote by Richard G Scott "A sense of humor is an escape valve to the pressures of life and will invite revelation" And so even with the laughing... it invited a spirit of peace... not contention... we never contended with him... we just showed our love to him and our desire for his salvation.....  and finally he was humble enough to act on the answer that he received.... That is what 'Real Intent' is! When you act on the answer you receive! And so it was such a good lesson! And so now this weekend Saturday! J will FINALLY be baptized!! :)

But this week was actually a really good week in regards to finding people who NEED the gospel.... We found 2 people in particular.... I'll start with C... she's an older Korean lady.. around her 40 or 50's.... and she's actually getting abused by her partner we reckon... she hasn't told us specifically but she strongly implied it... So she's turning to God at this time because she needs comfort and so we've taught her twice and she's so good and so sincere! And another is this 16 year old Aussie named J... When we approached them on the street... he was with this older guy in his 30's that was drinking and smoking and J was just sitting there... So we talked to him and turned out that guy was his uncle... But we talked to J and he was a genuinely nice kid... he just had SUPER BAD influences obviously... and he had the best questions... because his Granny died and he had been wondering where she is... why do bad things happen to good people and which church was true! And we read with him some answers out of the Book of Mormon right there on the street! And he opened up to us how he needed this because he had been depressed and showed us his wrists and he had been cutting himself trying to feel happiness he said... And so we'll meet with him later this week hopefully.. But it really humbled me that there are TONS of people out there in need... and I have the opportunity to go and help them with the gospel of Jesus Christ which after all brings true happiness.... But I shallst keep you updated on them as we continue to teach them.