The Chainsaw Miracle

My Christmas Poem

Christmas, Christmas fast approaches,
    Hopefully without cockroaches.
Australia is really hot.
    Is it Christmas? Is it not?
People, sunburned, everywhere,
    And yours truly, pink as a....pear?

That is my Christmas poem to you guys :D.

The Chainsaw Miracle

This week has been very....interesting. But good at the same time.

One of the highlights of the week/miracles was when we did service for the K____ family. The goal was to cut down this bush/tree thing that we had stripped of its branches in previous service opportunities. So, we borrowed a chainsaw from one of the members in our ward, and our Ward Mission Leader came along with us. But the chainsaw wasn't working. We tried to start it for about 10 minutes, with no success. I was saying silent prayers for help, but to no avail. The chainsaw just wouldn't start.

So, our ward mission leader said that we should go to a store to get an ax, and use that instead. So we left, went and bought what we thought would be a good, strong ax. This ax had a five-year waranty. The ax head came off of the body of the ax after three and a half minutes, when it was embedded in the wood of this bush thing. We had nothing else, so we just had to keep on putting the ax head on the body, and whacking the bush/stump/tree thing. After 15 minutes of taking turns with that, we realized that it was going nowhere. The ax was no good, and the bush was still far from being chopped down.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man in a Ute pulled to a stop, got out of his car, grabbed a chainsaw from the bed of the Ute, said "Don't worry, mates, I got it", threw on protective gear, started the engine of the chainsaw, cut down the bush thing in two minutes, packed up and left. It was awesome! So kind and selfless of him! I am confident that that experience was a direct answer to prayer.

What made it better was when we were talking about it with Mr. K____. He also recognized it as a blessing from God, and expressed to us once again that he knows we were sent by God to help him and his family. We have a baptismal date with him, and his wife, and he continues to progress. It was a huge testimony builder for me, to see how direct of an answer to prayer that we received. Very cool. I know that if we ask Heavenly Father that he will give (see D&C 112:10). If we pray sincerely, he will always answer our prayers. He probably will not answer our prayers in the way we want, or expect. But he ALWAYS answers. Trust God!

This is a street that reminds me of Chico, California.

We ended up staying there for three and a half hours!!!!

There is a lady in our area that we go and visit. We went to take her something the other day, and we ended up staying there for three and a half hours!!!! Gaaaaaaahhhhh!! I am glad that we got to help her out and spend some time with her. But that took forever!!!!! We tried to tell her that we had to go like ten times, but she just kept on talking away. It is pretty funny looking back at it now, but I was ready to leave by the time that we actually left.. Note to self: don't tell people that you aren't busy.

Elder Cocker and I on that one bridge again.  Me rockin' my new haircut.

I was reaaaaaally frustrated with our visit. So was Elder Cocker. But we were talking about it and decided that we just need to be more Christlike, and have charity. So, especially to my siblings, when someone does something that makes you frustrated, mad, or have other negative emotions, just think about what Jesus Christ did for us all. Think about how he feels when we do dumb things. Think about how much he suffered in Gethsemane, and at Calvary. He knows us each perfectly. Try to put yourself in their shoes. Maybe whoever offended you didn't do it on purpose? Maybe whoever offended you or made you mad or whatever intended to do it for good, to help you out. Then think about Christ and how he forgives us all if we ask. Do you really have any excuse to be mad at anyone? To feel offended? To not forgive? I don't think so.)  (see D&C 64:9-10)  When I think about my experience I realize the lady we visit is lonely, and this is Christmas time...

"Oh well, the Church is true"

There is a family that we found this week that we have been working with. We nicknamed them the Bordertown family (without telling them), because we don't know their last name. But they are cool! And all of them play American football. The family consists of a mom, daughter, and two sons. And the mom is a quarterback for her club team. Crazy huh? (side note; Aussies don't really play Gridiron, or American football. They play rugby. That is why finding out that this family plays Gridiron is so crazy).

This past Saturday, we had two massive feeds/parties to attend. One was a birthday party that a ward family put on for their four year old daughter. It was really good food, and a productive party because we had the opportunity to talk to a number of their family members who are not members. The second massive feed was our ward Christmas party, where Sister H____ and I took selfies using another member's iPad :). I guess she tagged you in some of them.

The H____ family are aweeesome! Random note: we go to their house for dinner fairly often, and one thing that Brother H____ says whenever we are talking about any form of adversity is "Oh well, the Church is true." They rock!

But anyways, the Ward Christmas party was really good. Some of the less-active families that we have been working with came. There was good food, though I couldn't eat like any of it, because I was so full. The members in our ward are all awesome. All around awesomelinessishness.

Woden Ward missionaries at the Christmas Party.

An Atheist, Agnostic, Practicing Protestant...

Another random, unforgettably weird experience that Elder Cocker and I had this week; we went to try to visit the people in the government housing that I told y'all about. And we met some new, interesting people. One lady who was under the influence of something told us that she was an Atheist, Agnostic, practicing Protestant. She asked me to show her how to tie my tie, so that she could do it. She also told me that my "preacher" (she probably meant superiors) was really smart to have us wear paisley ties, because it attracts people. What??? I was wearing the tie that Elder Tanner sent me, you guys will have to tell him about it if he is still in the ward back home. It was very uncomfortable. But she asked me about my purpose as a missionary and so we eventually had a gospel conversation. She probably doesn't remember any of it.

Meanwhile, while I was talking to Crazy Tie Lady, Elder Cocker was having a mad stare-down with this dude who spoke so quiet you couldn't hear a word he said. This guy has sea-blue eyes, looks like a sailor (probably is a sailor) and doesn't ever, evvvverrrr blink. Elder Cocker still reckons he won the stare-down.

I fell asleep like 6 times

We have Ward Council every other Sunday, and yesterday just happened to be one of those Sundays. Because of that, we had to wake up super early to make it on time to Ward Council. As a result, I was extremely tired. During Elders Quorum, I fell asleep like 6 times, unfortunately. That is probably why the teacher kept on looking at me... I felt really bad, but it is what it is. :)

The members in our ward have been asking what they can do to help out the missionaries. And the response that we have been giving is that members should invite non-member friends to as many church related activities as possible! I have mentioned it in prior emails, but invite invite invite! It can only help.

That is pretty much my week at a glance.

Now for some question-answering...

We are going to have another FHE tonight with the Part member family. I feel like it will be a good one! But we haven't talked to them in a while, because they were up in Sydney.

Favorite teaching moment? The service stuff that we did, because they are so prepared! And awesome!

I think I will be skyping somewhere around 11am-1pm Sydney time on Christmas. I don't exactly know what time that is in CA. I will give you guys a better idea next week.

Christmas package? I haven't got it yet, but only because the office is holding on to all of the Christmas packages until we have our Christmas Conference on the 23rd of December. I cant wait to open it though!!

That is awesome that you guys met up with the Moala Family! Sooo cool! I am glad that he got to tell you guys about the Ward and the area etc. It is pretty surreal to see pictures of him with you guys, when he was here just two weeks ago.

Larsen Family and Moala Family at the Oakland Temple Visitors Center.

I really enjoyed your letter, and wish I had more time to respond to everything you said. Thanks also for sending those pictures. I love you! Have a greaaaat week!

Arohanui,
Elder Larsen