A Place of Refuge

 So this week was AWESOME! We got this mormon.org referral which are usually dodgy as... and we were talking to our District President (dropping off some buckeyes...nbd..).. And we told him about it.. and where this referral lived... he said "Well... that's the richest neighborhood in all of Coffs Harbour"... So we were like... well fair dinkum... that's not good haha, that means they're prideful as haha. But we still kept some hope and knocked on their mansion vault door... no joke.. biggest door I've seen in my life... and this lady answers and goes 'MORMONS!!!'..... 'COME IN =D'.... We were just like o.O.... Whaaaa?.... But she didn't have a male inside so we just talked on the doorstep and long story short... she's interested!... WOO!! And we took our District President to go teach with us and we taught in her back porch... it was legit... I felt like I was on MTV Cribs.. I was just waiting for Lil Jon' or Will Smith to walk out any time... she had this legit pool and crystals every where and this ridiculous mansion landscaped backyard and her daughter was bringing us out muffins and cookies the whole time... WOOO!! hahhaha. Any ways they are keen as and we're excited for them! The members are just doing so much good here... we had this rapid increase of enthusiasm from them and so everything is pumping! Which is unusual for Coffs Harbour... every one thinks of it as slow.... but Nay... tis ballin!!

 

Here's an update on our Investigator B... So the same lesson we gave him a blessing... we watched the mormon message "Mountains to Climb"... The next time we saw him he just opened up to us like "Hey you know that video you showed me?.. I've watched that thing like 45 times!.. And that would be an understatement!... I just had it on replay the whole time.. every thing that man was saying I just felt was true! I cried like 3 times listening to it.. And I looked it up the whole talk and read it and sent it to my mum (who belongs to Church of England).. And she hung up the phone on me... then I called her back later and she answered crying... and she was saying how true it was as well!"..... MIRACLE!! Hahaha it was so cool.. Me and my companion just looked at each other and we were both thinking... 'he's getting baptized'... Then we had this super powerful lesson with him.. he never knew he could be forgiven and thought there weren't any good enough people on the earth anymore to be prophets... So we taught the Restoration mixed in with the Atonement... and after explaining the Savior's Earthly Ministry and everything he performed (baptism, atonement etc.)... We invited him to be baptized.... AND HE AGREED!!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!... This area hasn't seen a baptism in at least 18-24 months.. It's been such a miracle! The Lord has been pouring out His tender mercies upon us! 

 

 We taught this lesson in at this Less Active members home.. and their neighbors were partying and were rioting hardcore (one of our cars actually got dented in a result of it).. But as we were teaching this lesson amongst these circumstances... Time seemed to just stand still for a moment... As we taught this family... just for a moment... all the loud ruckus that was going on.. The screaming.. the swearing.. the sound of bottles breaking..... just seemed to disappear... and the Spirit filled the room... and it was just perfect.... The less active woman then started to bear her testimony to all of us and it was SO POWERFUL!!!... And from this experience I actually received revelation!.. Usually I used to think of church or your home as a place of refuge.. just distinct places..... But I realized... it's where the spirit is... when the spirit is present... whatever location you're at... can be your place of refuge... And in that strangers home... in between those walls... inside from the worldly immorality... was my momentary place of refuge!

Leave it to the Lord

Let me share with you some of the miracles... MY GOODNESS!

Miracle #1. We had this lesson with this lady in her 50's named R.. She's had a pretty tough life and has been Less Active for AGESSSS.... she hadn't even seen missionaries for about 30 years until we knocked on her door... We then taught her a lesson and she felt like she was worthless and unworthy of receiving blessings... and we felt prompted to share 3Ne 9:14 "Yea, verily I say unto you, if ye will come unto me ye shall have eternal life. Behold, mine arm of mercy is extended towards you, and whosoever will come, him will I receive; and blessed are those who come unto me. " And she just began to weep and committed to come back to church for the first time in forever! It was miracle as! 

Miracle #2. My trainer Elder A found this Thai guy named 'N' on the train like 3 weeks before I came into the mission... When I was with Elder A for about 2 weeks.. N came for the first time to meet with us... we taught him as long as I was in the City.. so like 7 1/2 months.. And he was going super good, baptismal date and every thing.. then he had struggles with commandments and decided it wasn't for him.. it was truly heartbreaking because he was so keen and sensitive to the spirit!....And I never knew what happened to him.. I thought he just got dropped and moved on with life.... but... Just today!.... I found out on July 20th, 2013... almost 1 year later from his beginning of learning with us.... N GOT BAPTIZED!!!!  WOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! My old Zone Leader called me up and told me and I was completely speechless! This just adds even stronger to the strength of my testimony before hahah, that NO. EFFORT. IS. WASTED!... And we just have to trust God with His timing... these are HIS children.. He knows what they need and when they need it...

Miracle #3. We have this Part Member family here.. The wife is Less Active and the Husband is a non-member... They are like the most awesome, sweetest family I've met! They have the cutest little kids as well! So we started teaching the husband super recently and he's been warming up to us... we were asked to help them move and right before we got there like an hour earlier.. he dropped this lifting dock from the moving truck onto his foot and broke his toes! It looked disgusting as! So we went over to see how he was doing a day later and as we were sitting there we asked if there's anything we can do... And he goes "Yeah I don't know if you can cause I'm not a member.. but could you give me a blessing?"... And so we were happy as, we were like "Yeah of course we can give you one!!" So we first shared with them this powerful message and then gave him the blessing.. My companion anointed and I sealed.. And as I was giving the blessing.. The words just flowed out of my mouth like nothing I'd experienced before... And at the end of the blessing when we said 'Amen'... He was just in the chair weeping... And I was shocked as first... cause he looks like this pretty tough guy... but the spirit was so strong in that room it just went to show that no matter how macho-guy you are.. the spirit softens peoples hearts! And it was just a crazy powerful experience!! And right after we left their house both my companion and I just looked at each other and said "He's gonna get baptized"... 

Miracle #4. There was this Thai guy named 'P' in the city... He was a referral from one of our golden investigators. We lost contact with her in Thailand so we never knew what happened to her.. but P stayed in Australia and we kept teaching him... as long as N.. like 7 1/2 months.. and he just wasn't progressing and kept dodging appointments.. and he was just that type of guy who was wasting life away doing stupid things... sleeping, video games, drinking.. and I even remember getting angry at him one time for cancelling like the 7th time in a row for a lesson and I yelled at him on the phone (which I shouldn't have).. Then we dropped him as an investigator afterwards... I just found out today as well.... HE'S GETTING BAPTIZED IN 2 WEEKS!!!! This experience especially impacted me because you care so much about your investigators and you want them to progress so much and sometimes on your own time and you get frustrated in that sense.... But once again... if you leave it to the Lord and just love the people... something's bound to happen..

So there's some spiritually uplifting experiences for you!

Good Stuff

Well well well... The Lord blessed me with correct revelation haha. So the transfer calls didn't come for agessss.. So we were freaking out a bit.. It was like almost 6pm and we were doing a Preach My Gospel study at this park with one of our YSA when we got the call.. And obviously I was getting transferred... So we went and had dinner at their house when my pocket started buzzing... and I look at the caller ID: Pres. Howes :O.... I already knew what was gonna happen so I was like NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Hahaha... So yeah I got called to be a Zone Leader... And the crazy thing is.. When I got to transfer meeting they said... Elder Ball... You're going to Coffs Harbour... Your companion is..... ELDER O!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!! He was my companion in the City! hahaha, so I'm excited as! And my dream is slowly coming true.. I wanted to baptize someone in a river/beach and Coffs is the only area that it's possible! hahah. But we're the furthest north in the mission... just an hour ahead of us is the borders of the Brisbane mission haha. Exciting stuff happening.  We got asked to teach Elders Quorum last minute and our topic: RELIEF SOCIETY!... I thought I was prepared to teach absolutely any lesson... until I received this one hahaha. But anyways.. I was so so so happy though... I left Gosford Ward the best way I could have imagined.. I got to give a talk and thank every one in the ward. Good stuff.

Hit the Year Mark!

But that's really true about the bad days... I've already come to learn what "success" is as a missionary though... your commitment... not your increase... such as baptisms etc. So the only bad days that I'm usually prone to is when I'm not committed... and if that's the case... it's my own darn fault I'm having a bad day... so I toughen up and put on a smile haha. But anywhooooo

This week was legen wait for it..... and I hope you're not lactose intolerant cause the next part of that word is DARY!!!!! So #1.. Hit the year mark... it really wasn't that big of a deal to be honest haha... It was kinda scary cause of how fast it went... but we had a little celebration of MadMex (the best mexican in the Central Coast for Australia... doesn't compare with Taco Bell though -_-)... It was sweet too cause 2 other Elders in my district.. we came in together.. so we had that... And we didn't burn anything, that's banned in our misison haha. And then to top off my year mark day... We taught a Seventh Day Adventist preacher... like this guy was no joke.. He's preached in Phoenix to Fiji... So we went into the Lion's Den.. The only reason I wanted to go back there is because he was baptized LDS when he was 18... then changed religions... so I wanted to know why... And during the lesson he was being super condescending and trying to rip our religion apart... But I just smiled and told him "I'll tell you one thing you can't criticize or deny... And that's my testimony...".. Then bore my testimony and then we left haha. It was pretty dang legit. 

Another legitamusness... this member in our ward... GAVE US A REFERRAL!!!!! No joke that's like rare as here... the members are all so great and want to do missionary work but very few turn into referrals... so we went to the members house for lunch on Saturday and the investigator was there and we taught them a lesson using an object lesson... so I'll try to explain... so first we got legos and constructed 2 bridges over lava..  then we told a story of how you want to go to disneyland but theres 2 roads washed out... luckily you have a bridgebuilder... and he builds them for you etc..... And each pitfall where the bridge covered represented something... so the first pitfall represented physical death... but Jesus Christ overcame that through his death and resurrection... the second pitfall was sin... and Jesus Christ overcame that through his Atonement and providing us the 5 steps the gospel of Jesus Christ... so then we had the 5 steps of legos... and at the very end we had the gatorade bottle inside a lego temple... and we did the egg thing... where you put rubbing alcohol and a match and it sucks the egg in... well we did that and the egg went BOOM!!! Hahah, it splattered like all over the table... and our little lego God got thrusted across the table as well.... And the egg going in the bottle was to represent us going into heaven and this one guy was like.. "you can get into heaven but you'll lose your skin and a couple arms" hahaha.

Good, Better, Best!

This week was pretty swell, we went to teach Seminary and we're about to teach and they are doing a review of what they learned yesterday and turns out.... the lesson we were given to teach that day... was given the day before hahaha. But it's algood, we put a missionary spice on it and made it a little different. But here's one of my fav. sayings I heard this past week . "Good, better, best... Never let me rest until my good is better and my better is best."... Diligence is the key to success... But with that being said.. always keep in mind Mosiah 4:27.. it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength.. You don't have to be 100% awesomeness all the time... there's the parable of the saw... this man is sawing a tree down and a bystander says... 'You should probably take some time to sharpen your saw'.. but instead he replies 'No I gotta get it down now, fast, fast, fast!' And finally after a long time he finishes... but if he took some time out to stop... sharpen his saw... he would've finished LONG BEFORE he ever would've if he just kept working... Likewise with us... amidst our work we have... we need to take some time out to sharpen ourselves... So that we may become more effective tools in the Lord's hands ;) there's something to think about =D

We got to teach that Part Member family I've been talking about.. the K's... We had a super good lesson with them and invited them to pray individually and as a family about what we taught that night (the restoration).. So we're hoping to see some progress with them!

And this less active we've been trying to see... I met him my first week here (5 months ago now)... And he rocked up to church yesterday out of nowhere! And he was sitting down.. and one of his good friends came over and hugged him.. and he just started crying hardcore... It made me happy to see reunions like that... and the misconception less active's have that when they go back to church they'll be judged.. but in reality.. it's just like the prodigal son... it's nothing but rejoicing... everyone in the ward is getting more open and being more member missionaries! Tis an awesome thing to witness! So do the same in Ashburton! Keep it up with fellowshipping and SWAG- Sanctification Will Allow Godliness....#yolo.

Instruments in His Hands

We had a super legit experience this week! So Elder C and I were on trade-offs that day and had only 40 minutes left to do tracting before we finished our trade-off... So we prayed and asked the Lord to lead us to those who have been prepared... The prompting came to us to go to a certain street... And we had never tracted the suburb before either so we went excited! The first door.... no answer.... second door... bunch of drunk party guys all screaming.... but the third door.... this mother answered the door with her 3 year old daughter... and it turns out her friend gave her a Book of Mormon almost 2 years ago... and from what she read.. she really liked it! So we talked on her doorstep for about 30 minutes... and she said jokingly... "Why on earth did you come to Kariong?!<-- (the suburb we never go to)... And then she added... "Obviously someone knew we were looking for something more.".... At that instant I knew that prompting to tract there was to find this family... who, little did they know, had been searching for this restored gospel!.. And as she said that, her sister with her own kids came walking up... and at first I was thinking... "Oh no... they're gonna start bashing and tell us to go away now".. But instead they were all SUPER friendly and joined in our conversation! Even as we set the appointment to come back... all her kids protested- "NO! NO! Make it a time when we'll be home... we want to be here when they come!!"... At that time it was just another reassurance that God is mindful of ALL his children.. and we were able to be used as instruments in His hands that evening.

We've been working with this YSA (Z) in our ward, preparing for his mission! And we planned to take him out to teach a member to get him some teaching experience.. and the members cancelled 2 hours before... so we called quickly to find someone to teach... and then this other member told us to come to her work.... so we get there and she goes... Elders... meet J... she's a non-member... teach her... and basically left... hahaha, so we got to teach her the restoration with Z... and at the very end Z bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon and she hardcore felt the spirit... she even looked like she was going to cry at one point! Then afterwards... the member gave us these HUGE family boxes of cereal, BEST. DAY. EVER! Hahaha. Twas pretty sweet! 

Spiritual Uppercut

Miracle #1- On September 4th, 2012... I met this small Japanese woman .. it was the 2nd transfer of my mission in the City... We had just finished finding and were heading back to the Teaching Center and we were like 10feet from going in when I saw one last lady walking past... So something told me to go and talk to her (obviously it was the Spirit).. So I stopped her to talk, she didn't have much english so I gave her a free english flyer and got her contact information.... over the course of her coming it was just for activities... But after a long time she finally started learning about the gospel... but had no progression whatsoever....I taught her for a little bit and shame on me... I didn't see much hope to be honest. And then I was transferred so I never knew what happened to her.... But let me ask... do miracles cease?....I just received a call just this past weekend to let me know... June 15, 2013... she was baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! No effort is wasted! I never would've thought she would be baptized, let alone progress in the gospel learning.... I add my voice to Ammon's in which he says-"Now my brethren, we see that God is mindful of every people whatsoever land they may be in; yea, he numbereth his people, and his bowels of mercy are over all the earth. Now this is my joy, and my great thanksgiving; yea, and I will give thanks unto my God forever. Amen."

 It was such a crazy miracle... That strengthened my testimony... That all the people we've ever invited... all the ones we never thought would've joined the church... could indeed be members at this very moment... I would not know she is a member if it wasn't for the mission being so small and all the missionaries knowing each other somewhat... So my message is to never lose faith in anyone! There is always hope! :D

Miracle #2.  This last week I had an experience which is very unlike me... we approached the door of this Less Active and immediately you could see she was not impressed by seeing us at her doorstep... she politely declined and tried to shut the door... but for some reason... which I don't usually do... I stopped her and kept being persistent asking her questions like how long she had been a member... when she had last seen missionaries?? Why she isn't interested anymore?... she then opened up and shared her dad passed away 6 months ago and she was meeting with Jehovah witnesses.... I shared her a scripture of where her dad is and taught her right there on her doorstep... Right there on her front door it seemed like time just stood still and you could see the spirit working on her.... After much silence she said she was busy now but we could come back and share a message!... In my mind I was like.... (WOOOOOOO! SPIRITUAL UPPERCUT!).... And the next time we went round she even said to us she told the Jehovah witnesses to stop coming around! Relying on the Spirit works wonders!!

 

Miracle #3. We went and taught this Part-Member family... The wife is inactive... and the rest of the family is non-members... So we had a super good visit with them and then we asked to share a message just before we left... So we read this scripture to them and instantly.... waterworks.... The mum started crying hard out... We were kinda taken back by surprise but... hey... It does hurt when the spirit punches people so many times so you cant help but cry hahaha. They then agreed for us to come back as well! And from both of those experience this week... it reminded me of the power of teaching from the scriptures! Just as it says in Alma 31:5- "therefore Alma thought it was expedient that they should try the virtue of the word of God."