I am going to be really confused when I get home

So I have decided that I am going to be really confused when I get home. I will have an American\Aussie\Mexican\Tongan\Kiwi\Samoan\Filipino\Arabian\Southern accent and I don't think that I will know how to function in a predominantly American Society. It will be weeeiiiirrrrd as! (Yup, I said "weird as", that's a kiwi (New Zealand) thing, thanks to my comp Elder Cocker).

Elder Cocker and Elder Larsen.

Something funny...

Last week, we drove out to the National Library in Canberra (where I am now) to try and email. But we got here and there was no parking whatsoever. So, Elder Cocker supposedly saw a spot that said "5 hour parking", so we went and parked there. When we got out, we looked at the sign and we saw that it said "5 Minute parking". So we had to get back in the car and drive all the way back to Queanbeyan and find a library there.

Canberra Capitol Building, or something...

Study habits

Everyday, I get up at 6:30 AM to exercise till 7 AM, then I have an hour to prepare and have breakfast, and then I study. I have personal study for an hour, until 9 o'clock.  That includes the Book of Mormon, Preach My Gospel, and the missionary library. Then we have companion study from 9 AM to 10 AM, where we as a companionship recite our missionary purpose, D&C 4, and the First Vision. Then we prepare for lessons or meetings that we have till our comp study ends.

Elders Larsen and Cocker in their apartment.

We have a 12 week study program for new missionaries where we study "Preach My Gospel" essentials. We normally do that for two hours, so that Elder Pedersen can do his language study (he speaks Spanish). One profound thing that I read in "Our Search For Happiness" by M. Russel Ballard is that we can never pay back the Lord for all of the blessings He has given all of us. Two years of my life is nothing in comparison to what He has done. Jesus Christ suffered and died for us on the cross. He took the sins and pains of the world on Himself so that we imperfect beings can return to live with Him and Heavenly Father, despite all of our shortcomings, if we will accept Him and His Gospel, and strive to improve ourselves each day. That was really powerful.

Inside the flat where hours of study happens.  Still looks kind of spartan...

Finding people to teach

Our other finding efforts are going well. We really have been focusing on working with members. We have visited tooooooons of Less-Active members in order to clean up the ward list, focusing particularly on the Queanbeyan area. We have done "GQ'ing" (General Questioning or street contacting) a few times, and I have another awesome miracle-of-a-story to tell. And we have been visiting every active member in the ward that we could. So basically our finding is going relatively well.

Elder Cocker crying repentance from a local amphitheater.

Two blowouts

We changed 2 tires this week. I won't mention who our driver is to protect him from embarrassment (I just narrowed it down; he is an elder, not a sister ;D ). The first one happened randomly. This lady pointed at our tire when we were driving to the church Tuesday for MCM (Missionary Coordination Meeting),  and she said (in a heavy foreign accent) "You tiya!" (your tire). When we got to the church, we had to change it. But we took that "You tiya!" and had fun with it as we drove away. "No I am not tired, thanks". "I know I am on fire, but I appreciate the complement". "Actually we are missionaries, we aren't for hire. We do offer free service, though." The thing to realize is that we weren't making fun of her, we were making light a stressful situation, so it actually was very healthy for us :D.

The second time it happened, our chauffeur didn't see a curb, and hit it, hard. That busted that tire. One important thing to note is that these were two different cars, so they both had spares. Very interesting.....

Teaching experiences

Another cool thing that happened is that Elder Cocker and I went to visit the three fishermen again on Saturday. And it was pretty awesome! We let them talk mostly, but by the end of it we had set a return appointment, where they said that we could come over and share a message, and that we should have shared a message then and there. They really have been prepared. It was awesome! We plan to teach about prophets, Jesus Christ and His earthly ministry, and the Plan of Salvation. We really can help these guys out.

Sunset picture close to where they met the three fishermen 

And one other thing that I should mention; we went out GQ'ing one day, and we ran into this 22 year old Tongan guy, and he was really cool, and he told us he has a cousin on a mission and stuff, and that he would like to learn more about the church. Then he gave us his number (without us asking) and we were off. The next day we ran into him at the library, where we taught him the entire message of the Restoration. Cool beans!

We got this picture from a wonderful LDS family in Canberra who fed these hungry missionaries!

Zone Conference

On Friday, we had our first zone conference. We met in a chapel like 25 minutes drive from Queanbeyan, and met the zone. Our zone is awesome! Our zone leaders are Elders White + Shafer (it is the same Elder Shafer that you emailed, dad, so that was really pretty funny). We had conference, then had a half p-day with the zone. We did laser tag! that rocked! then we went and played touch rugby, which I really enjoy. I wish I could say more, but I don't have time.... Sorry!

Final thoughts

What is awesome about the flat? The toilets are awesome, but the missionaries are even more awesome than the toilets! Although I have decided that the toilets aren't quite as awesome as I originally thought (we had to have a plumber come fix one of them this week).

The 3 Story, 2 Bedroom, 2 Toilet Flat of Awesomeness

Okay! I love you all! be good, and thanks for all of the prayers and everything else. You all inspire me!

G'day (yes they really do say that here)

Elder Larsen  

Elder Cocker singing.

A cool church building in Queanbeyan that Elders Larsen and Cocker passed while street contacting.

The new missionaries and their companions who arrived the same day as Elder Larsen.  Elder Larsen is in front row, fifth from the left.  Elder Cocker is next to him on the right.

Aussie Sunset in Queanbeyan.