Led by the Spirit

So I was on trade-offs with a pretty new missionary, Elder W.  He's so good though for how young he is in the mission (plus he's 18).. We set goals that we were going to find 2 New Investigators, give out 5 Books of Mormon all by doing this survey that we're doing in the mission. We were walking the whole day cause neither of us could drive and we were getting shut down the whole morning.. we were talking to every one and not one person listened... We kept on going and talked to this one guy on the way to lunch and he wasn't interested at all.. but we kept persisting and it turned out.. he agreed to take the 2 minute survey... but soon after we realized he loved talking :) .. 30 minutes later haha as we have discussed heaps of gospel topics.. he smiled and then chuckled a bit and said 'Ya know... me and my partner have been searching for a church to go to for about 12 months.. and we just barely moved here and you guys show up... I'll come to your church!"....Sometimes we are led by the spirit... not even knowing that we are being placed in the path of others lives that we can change.. But we earn these such tender mercies by our obedience to previous promptings which we follow, no matter how big or small they are.... And so we taught him a bit and set a return appointment to meet up again... BOOM! 1st New Investigator... 

So after lunch we continued talking with every one and come the time of the end of our trade off... we were walking home.. we had added 1 New Investigator.. gave out 4 Books of Mormon... and we were about 500 meters away from home so we could evaluate the day... when we saw this kid in the distance walking his dog.. We both looked at each other and were like.. We are giving this kid a Book of Mormon no matter what!.. Even if we give it to his dog, we wanted to accomplish our goal!... So he's walking by us and has headphones in.. and we stop and wave him down.. but he keeps walking... so we were like... faiirdinkum... then after he walks past us about 2 feet... he takes out his headphones and says.. "I'm sorry, did you say something to me?".. We were like, Yeah! We're missionaries just going around the area here doing a quick survey... And we asked him the first question.. "Is a close, strong family important to you?"... And he replies- "Yeah it really is! My brother died 2 years ago... so I don't know if I'll ever see him again but my family means every thing!"... And just from that we were able to have the most legit lesson right there on this street... I pulled open the Book of Mormon and taught him where his brother is right now... and testified that he will see him again... and then Elder W bore his testimony as well.. and through it all, this kid in Year 8 started crying and invited us back over to his house next week!.... I know with a surety that God hears our prayers.. and knows our thoughts and innermost desires.. This kid had been asking himself every day 'What's the point of life if we come here to live and then just die.. never to live again?'... And he was walking his dog listening to his music pondering that same question when he met us... the last person we spoke with that day.. was an answer to his prayer and also ours. 

What my mission has meant to me thus far:

My mission has meant EVERYTHING to me... From what I've observed and come to a realization of... is the reason why so many people miss their mission so much... is not because they miss the culture, or the people, or wearing proselyting clothes every day, or getting feeds from members. Although they play a significant role for certain missionaries... but no it's not any of that. It's because... they will not experience the huge capacity in which they were able to feel the spirit as much as they felt it when being a full-time missionary. When you have your own Sacred Grove experiences... when you see miracles, when you teach and testify and feel the gospel... I mean really feel the gospel for the first time working in you as if it were your own DNA... when you gain a rock solid testimony.. when you make eternal friendships with the people whom you will dedicate your full-time service to.. when you forget yourself and give every thing you have to God.... when you come to the point where nothing else matters... where you can never go back to being the same.. you answer just as Peter answers when Jesus asks "Will ye also go away?".... "Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life" ... And when you realize that... is when you now understand what God has sent us on this earth for... There is no other way to live... at least not happily... but by serving God and being a Disciple of Christ... forever.... For this is what the mission has made me become... Living every day... by the words of eternal life.. I still remember in the MTC... Elder Pearson of the Seventy... said "The first miracle you will see... will be the miracle of your own conversion"... And I thought to myself... that's rubbish.. Witnessing someone else's conversion is why we're coming on missions..... 

Now I know what he means... This mission... is not 100% intended to convert others... it is to convert the missionary.... the Lord is investing these 18-24 months in you... so that you may be a Kingdom builder.. And that's exactly what it's done for me.... 

A Testimony of Fasting

#1- So my companion and I have been working heaps hard in finding new investigators.. We've really been working with the branch to help them be missionary minded and make it a #1 priority!.. And along with that we've been doing our own work in finding, through formers, unknowns, less actives etc. And so this past Saturday night approaching Fast Sunday.. we started fasting for the sole purpose to find new investigators so we can baptize each month.. And we really wanted to be an example to our zone so we can uplift and motivate them.. So we had this purpose in mind and we just finished our Personal Study on Sunday morning.. when our District President calls up and says "Elders.. There will be 10 women from Vanuatu at church today.. 2 are Returned Missionaries... 8 are non-members.. prepare a lesson and teach them."... WHATTTT?!?!?...  So we get to church and meet them all and they were sweet as! They were so humble.. they all left their families so they can send money back to provide.. So we taught them all a lesson and had dinner with them later and we are now going to be teaching them this Wednesday!.. All of them in one time or another have seen or met missionaries as well!.. So in a way better than we ever could've accomplished.. It was through MEMBER missionaries who helped us add 8 new investigators in one day! Members are essential in this work..This is the prime example, when we combine in effort.. miracles happen... And I already had a testimony of fasting but my goodness.. It just keeps increasing.. the Lord indeed knows all... and responds to our cry when we act out of faith.. And when it is needful.

#2- We were having a lesson with this Less Active member and our investigator S.. And we were teaching about Light and Truth.. When you are obedient.. you receive more light and understand more truth.. And we were trying to commit S to be baptized.. so we were trying to set up a good question.. so we asked.. "What are some things you can do.. to receive more light?".. The Less Active member said.. 'go to church!'... ding ding.. there's one answer.. then S goes.. 'I wanna get baptized man..' #BEAST!!!... Hahaha. So good! So we set a date for him to be baptized Nov.30th.. the spirit not only works through us.. it works through investigators so they can blurt random stuff out like that! haha. And to add onto that gloriousness.. After interviews with our Mission President.. He bought us all Banana Splits! Yeee-yaaa!

Oh. My. Miracles.

#1- That investigator we found last week in between the General Conference sessions... so we had a lesson with him this past week..and we're sitting there having a good discussion... Nek minut... His wife walks in and says.. "I watch a TV program about your Mormons and your Polygamy... I don't think it's bad... as long as your treat your wives properly.."... Hahaha. I just laughed and said-" Please.. I don't think many of us could handle one spouse... why would I want 7?".. And we told her that wasn't our church but a branch off of it... And that led her to the perfect question... "So if you profess to be the Church of Jesus Christ... why is there yet ANOTHER branch off of it... WHY ARE THERE SO MANY CHURCHES?".... (Cha-Ching)... We were like... welllll if you'd grab a chair we'd love to tell you... Haha. She then sat and listened to our message.... MY GOODNESS!... She accepted every thing soooooo easily... She was raised in Church of England.. didn't agree with it and left.. and ever since has been wondering the question of what happened to prophets... where's the authority.. etc... And they willingly accepted a Book of Mormon and committed to read it!... LEGIT!...

#2- Today... I called up my trainee Elder O... And I was seeing how he was doing (I hadn't talked to him in agessss) And then finally... He said.. "Do you remember A?"... (If you remember a whileeeee back.. she was the golden family in Kariong we tracted into and she was excited to learn more but after a while things fizzled out and we didn't hear from her)... So I replied.. "Of course, why?"... He then told me... "She's getting baptized next month!".... #jawdrop..... WHAT?!?!?.... He then told me all the details of what happened and I was dumbfounded... Time after time after time... The Lord always surprises me... of hearing people that I had found and taught.. then later were baptized... The Lord works in mysterious ways. I am grateful for a loving Father in Heaven.. who pours out His tender mercies upon those who are waiting for them... and for those who thought they were long gone... I now have a solidified testimony... that they are never too far gone... and they will come... Just as Elder Holland says.. "Hope on... keep trying... things will improve..".. with the grace of God.. all things will improve.. 

#3 I will continue with The Asian Invasion.. So get this!.. Obviously starting out in the City on my mission.. It was asian central.. that's who I'm accustomed to teaching.. We've been seeing HEAPS of them here in Coffs Harbour.. but unfortunately they are super hard to talk to.. When you talk to them in the city with 500 people beside you.. it's not that odd... But when you're the only person on the street with them.. They think they're going to get mugged.... So we've been trying to figure out how to talk to them... And so one day we were driving around trying to find these unknown less actives.. Then the impression came to visit this particular one.. I heard my previous companion tell me this family was  not interested... but I felt the need to go there... so after putting the prompting off a bit.. it kept persisting.. So I finally told my companion to turn the car around so we can see the family... We go and knock on the door... NEK MINIT.... A korean answered the door..  WOOOO!.. The family we were looking for had moved 1 month ago and now 7 ASIANS WERE LIVING THERE! We told them who we are and what we do and they invited us to come back!! AND.... the same thing happened to us the next day... we came back to the SAME suburb.. had the SAME prompting to visit another family... and turns out they moved as well and now, like 8 Taiwanese people lived there.. one who we met at the door.. (his name was 'ICE') was a major in philosophy and loved studying about religion... and invited us to come back... Oh. My. Miracles. It was too legit. It's amazing how Heavenly Father works.. I've had so many promptings that amount to nothing to my knowledge... and then there's others that amount to this... 15 new investigators in the course of 2 days.. I've learned with a surety that He gives us these promptings.. some.. to test us to see if he can trust us... and then others with greater promptings of greater consequences in the future.. If we follow the small simple promptings such as 'Talk to that person'.. or 'Give that person a pass along card'... He will absolutely know He can trust us with greater things.. 

Conference...was...wow!

Faiiirrrrrr didily dinkum... Conference...was... wow.... Worth the wait for sure!-Agreed. My companion and I wrote down some questions we wanted answers to during the sessions.. And seriously.. within the FIRST session... Amen.. checked off heaps of them haha.. And then within the very last address... my last question was answered...I add my voice to the simple quote- "God speaketh... not spaketh... He Is... not was."
We had about 2 hours to go finding in between the Saturday Afternoon session and Priesthood and this one particular man was telling us "I don't believe God speaks to just ONE man.. He speaks to all".. Then after we helped him understand the bold statement of God continuing to speak, if very much backing up what he just said.. that he can indeed receive revelation.. but the role of a prophets revelation is for the world.. God wouldn't speak to him to warn the world of floods... no he does that through his prophets, like Noah of old.. Then it clicked and he was dumbfounded... Then said... "Well... I don't need a prophet.. I'm close ENOUGH to God"..  so I said- "if you think you are close enough.. chances will be that there are things that will bring you closer to God and make you happier.. one of them being the restored gospel.. So if you wanna say you are close enough.. good on ya.. but you are living wayyy lower than your potential happiness that God intends you to have."... I then read this morning.. a quote by one the prophets.. He was saying in essence.. I know when I am speaking by the spirit.. when I finish talking and learn something from what I said.. When I finished talking to that man.. I think I learned more than he did.. The spirit testified to me as we were walking off his doorstep.. That God loves us enough to give us continuing guidance.. After all He gave us His Only Begotten Son to show us the way.. And then every one says it's over after that?.. No more prophets?.. To me that seems like a contradiction of God's love.. Here's the Atonement.. and now go live with the bible.. it's all you need...And with all of His infinite love and wisdom.. I don't think He would limit Himself to 1590 pages.. of the Old and New Testament.. and not even to 531 pages of the Book of Mormon etc... no it's beyond that.. They still speak!. In a world ever more dangerous.. and with rapidly declining morals.... If we think we can get through it on our own... good luck.. we saw how that turned out.. It's called the Great Apostasy haha.. we NEED God's words and direction still... And it's because someone actually understood that... is the reason why we achieved our goal that afternoon... We were looking to find 1 new investigator in those 2 hours.. and we accomplished it through sharing the Restoration with him....and this man was like "Yeahhh!! That makes so much sense!".. It does make sense... Because it's true... =D

There's this Less Active in our branch... and she used to be really strong..  strong family in the gospel... but she hasn't been active for ages... In my 3 transfers here so far I've never seen her at church...And been to their house once... But we had dinner with them and had a really good lesson in preparation to... (drumroll)... INVITE THEM TO GENERAL CONFERENCE.. yayyyy!... And as we committed them.. the wife said.. "I'll consider it..".. And so we left her be.. we didn't want to be too pushy and be like "COME TO CHURCH!!".. so we arrived at church... and we were printing out the conference talks so we could read along with the addresses.. and BOOM!... She walked in with her family!!.. And first thing she did.. was give us a dirty look and said.. What'd you bribe him with?... Hahaha. So supposedly.. Her son kept pestering her to come to General Conference and she thought we promised him lollies or something hahaha. We assured her we didn't do anything and she lightened up.. And turned out she really loved the session!.. But I now learned my lesson... If you get the child to do something... he will drag along 2 with them.. (their parents).. It twas legit indeed... 

Another experience.. We went to this Less Active families home (There's too many Less Active people).. And they're from New Zealand.. WOO!.. And with my Kiwiness we get along real well with them.. I just talk in my Maori accent and say "I'm beached as bro... Want some plankton?"... and they love me.. But we went over for an FHE  and the father proceeded to ask that we gave all of them blessings... (Just a side note.. That's something I'm so grateful for in the misison... it prepares you for the most unexpected situations and teaches you the importance of worthiness.) So we then gave them blessings and shared a FHE lesson with them. It was a really great experience to be able to help that family.. to be instruments in God's hands to simply make them happier.. And to top it off.. They've been coming to church 3 weeks in a row! WOO!.. 

I felt like CIA this week though.. It was legit. We were doing some unknowns on the branch list and we were trying to track down this certain member.. And so we knocked on what we had his address to be on the sheet of paper.. And the guy who answered immediately was like "NOPE! NOPE! LEAVE! And was about to slam the door.. and I was like "Wait wait! Do you happen to know A?!".. And he turned back and then talked to us to see if he knew him.. Then I introduced ourselves.. that we were from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he flipped a switch like in a second.. And his whole countenance changed and he went.. "Awesome!! :) Sorry I thought you were Jehovah's Witnesses... I just have some personal problems with them".. And then he invited us back to share a message with him hahaha. Every one is interested.. they just don't know it yet.. and you have to find a way to get an in with them.. So that guy then directed us to where he thinks A moved.. and we knocked on that address and it was his parents.. And they then said he moved to Newcastle.. in which we got the address and gave it to the Newcastle elders hahah. And as we were walking out of the complex.. I was backing up my companion (reversing him driving).. And this lady approached me! And she poured out all these problems she had.. like her 2 husbands died of cancer etc. And wanted us to teach her! #miracles. And that was all in the space of 30 minutes haha. It was so legit!

A Humbling Experience

B'S BAPTISM!!! WOOOO!!!!! My goodness... it was such an awesome experience.. I wish I could tell you it all in detail now but I'll have to write it out.. but in a nutshell.. So first off he texted us the morning of his baptism and was like "How can I know I'm worthy to be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ... when he was so perfect and when I have been so far from perfect?" .. So we went to his house and shared a lesson with him.. and answered his question.. that really set the tone for the day.. Then we left to fill up the font.. And it's supposed to take 3 hours.. 3 hours comes.. and its so shallow... and his baptism was just in an hour... so we were freaking out.. then to make matters worse... the water was scolding hot!!... I'VE NEVER HEARD OF THAT!... The water is usually always always freezing.. but for some reason we couldn't get cold water... so we were like firemen.. frenzying around chucking buckets of cold water in hahaha... fast forward... we got it up to a reasonable level... and he was baptized! It was such an amazing experience... it definitely taught me a lot as well about the Holy Spirit of Promise.. Elder O baptised him at first.. and his pants had an air pocket and it came up... so they did it the second time and that's when it hit me... Not the first time.. because it wasn't performed properly... but the second time I had the strongest confirmation and burning in my bosom that it was performed properly and by correct priesthood authority! And I was then able to confirm him the following day.. and it was my first time.. I was nervous as.. in the circle my legs were shaking and stuff haha, but it was such a humbling experience... to give a human being.. the gift of the third member of the Godhead!.. The Holy Ghost!.. It was sooooo legit! And he already got interviewed for the priesthood so next week he's going to get that! WOOP WOOP! Good things happening in Coffs Harbour.

Surfest

But this week was LEGIT! haha, we had the coolest opportunity that I don't think ANY missionary has had anywhere else in the world... we went to SURFEST! haha. And no it's not apostate.. we got permission from our Mission President.. and missionaries have been helping for years... It's a competition that was started by members.. because Surf competitions are always on Sunday.. so this one is Thursday-Saturday.. My companion was manning the grill the whole time.. and I got to judge a couple surfers and tallied up the scores so I was the one who placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd in the event... no pressure... haha. It was definitely not your normal missionary week.. but it was service nevertheless. And it doesn't sound spiritual at all right? Beach..Surfers.. BBQ... yeah... But I actually did have the absolute solidification.. of the love I have for His mission.. All of this stuff... it brought me heaps of FUN... but it didn't not bring me any JOY... And it brought me back to the fact that I do not miss my old hobbies.. nor worldly things.. nor my old life.. I simply just love being a missionary... for this is the time where I experienced what true JOY was.. and that is putting Jesus first... Others second.. and Yourself third.. that is JOY  .. and it's when you realize these things.. is when your NATURE has changed.. some people on the mission... they wake up at 6:30am... because they have to... not because they want to.. that simply is saying their BEHAVIOUR has changed.. but when you desire and want to do things that are good.. that you normally wouldn't of otherwise.. that is when you experience the change of NATURE for the better.. and it is like that for every one.. they don't need to be on a mission to experience this!