From South Africa and Very Spiritual

Hiya familia!

So this past week has been pretty crazy. Heaps of stuff has happened... Far out!

8 out of 20 missionaries in our zone got transferred

As you know, transfers happened this past week. There were heaps of changes that happened in our zone. The one that pertains to all of you, and myself, most is that my companion, Elder Winkelman was transferred... It was so sad! Man! We were together for only one transfer. We got along so well.... My new companion is Elder Wulf. And he is the MAN! He is from Auckland, NZ, has been serving for a year and a half, and is a stud missionary! I will share some experiences from just yesterday later on in my email.

Elder Wulf and Elder Larsen.

Elder Winkelman was transferred to Paramatta. That is one of the major cities within the greater Sydney area. He and Elder Wulf pretty much swapped... He was sad to go... And so was the ward, they were sad to see him go. I guess it was what the Lord wanted...

Elder Cocker is a lot closer now, though! He is in the Ingleburn zone. The same stake [as me]! Woohoo! So that is pretty exciting. Also, Elder Perkins' new companion is Elder Hammond! So we are all in the same flat together. Epic flat! Woohoo! 8 out of 20 missionaries in our zone got transferred. Pretty crazy.

From South Africa and very spiritual

Elder Winkelman and I had a hectic miracle last week! We decided to take one of the members who has his mission call to Samoa out with us to do some visits. We were walking around, trying to contact some people. And there was an African man sitting at a playground, probably 50 metres or so away. The member thought we should go talk to him. It was his initiative! The man! Bad examples of missionaries... Naw, just not perfect!

So anyways, we went over to talk to this man, and we got there, just casually say hello, then the member chimes in, saying "These are the missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They have a message to share with you now that will bless your life." So the man (his name is C_) said pretty much "That's fine, I don't mind hearing a message." We talked to him a bit more, learned he is from South Africa. And he is very spiritual. And we jumped right into the message. We shared pretty much the whole Restoration. It was awesome! He expressed that he really felt that we were called of God. And he is excited to learn more. We called him yesterday, and he is going to find time some time later this week to meet with us. So hopefully we have a great follow up visit.

Man, Aussies can sing!

There has been a lot of progression with some of the other people we have been working with. The B_ family finally came to church. Which is really exciting. Hopefully they will make it a habit. Many other less active members came to church. It was a great service. We had ward conference, and we heard great messages from our bishop, stake president, and other people.

We also had a ward missionary fireside on Sunday evening. And it was probably one of the most spiritually uplifting firesides I had ever been to. It was a musical fireside, with Mormon messages in-between. The theme was finding faith in Christ. Man, Aussies can sing! Jealous!

I learned how a real missionary goes tracting!

Now let me tell you a bit more about my day with Elder Wulf yesterday. Elder Wulf arrived around 3pm-ish yesterday. I worked with Elder Perkins until Elder Wulf and Elder Hammond came to our flat from transfers. Later in the day, probably like a half hour or so later (when the car was unloaded and such) we decided to go out and work. We tried to contact a less-active family in the ward. No one was there, so we decided to walk to the next place, in order to talk to as many people as possible. We knocked some doors and whatnot.

I learned how a real missionary goes tracting! Man! It was awesome! Elder Wulf, even when the person is clearly not interested, does not back down. He tries to get to the root of reasons for disinterest. You can tell that he cares a great deal about those that we contact. And as a result, we found 3 people that said that we could come back and share a bit more about our message with them. I have heaps to learn from Elder Wulf. And I am really excited for this transfer. Elder Wulf truly recognizes the urgency of our calling. He doesn't want to waste any time, or any opportunities. It is awesome.

B_ is good, I think. He wasn't at church, I think because of work. We plan to meet with him sometime this week. He is still on track to be baptized the 14th of June.

The Australian alphabet goes Aussie, Barby, Canberra, hEaps...

Sounds like a lot is going on. Gabriel Scheel will definitely be in my prayers. That is for sure.

Australians do like American music! It is everywhere. They also have more country music. Lots of Australian Country.  Kaysie, I have 6 favorite siblings. That is because I have 6 siblings. :)

JJ, the Australian alphabet goes Aussie, Barby, Canberra, Dingo, hEaps of cultures, Fairdinkum, G'day, How're ya goin'?...

Ezra! Sounds like [Father Son Campout was] heaps of fun! Lucky you!

Okay, well, there are lots of other things that happened this week, but those are the important things. This weekend should be great. We have a Mission Conference Monday of next week, so our P-day is probably Tuesday.

I love you guys! I will send a picture or two in a minute!
Elder Larsen