Fefe hake? ("How are you?" in Tongan) It is good to hear from y'all!
My week was great! As always, miracles to report, good experiences, and pictures to send finally! Yaaay! Sorry, I just have been bad about taking pictures. Which may be a good thing at the same time.
Scrumball with President Back
Monday was awesome! We had our zone P-day, which wasn't anything extravagant, but it was heaps of fun. We were planning on going to the circus with President Back (he was keen to come) but unfortunately we found out that the circus was closed on P-days. So, instead we went to the Stake Center, and we had fun playing basketball, and other sports. The Mortdale zone was also there, so we ended up having a combined zone P-day. Eventually we played the game "Scrumball" that I think Bro. Jones taught the youth back home for Mutual. And President Back played! He actually won (with modified rules)! Basically the object of the game is to get everyone else out, kinda like dodge ball, but w/out teams. You will see the video of President winning when I send this camera card home. He is the MAN! He and Sister back provided pizza for our pday. How kind!
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| Me with Elder Shafer |
Tuesday, we were able to see the A_ family again. It was Naomi (Investigator), Matua (Naomi's partner) Cains (Naomi's Brother, member). And we had an awesome time! They made us lunch (naturally, when the missionaries visit, they always make food). And we were able to resolve concerns and questions about the Book of Mormon. Naomi knows what she needs to do. She knows that she needs to pray, and she will get an answer. I think that she is afraid that when she knows that it is true, she will have to commit. But she understands. She has nagging feelings about reading and praying about the BoM frequently, and she knows deep down that she is on the right path. My companion and I will continue to pray for them. We have an appointment tomorrow evening (I will be on trade-offs, working in our area). So it should be good! (Hopefully baptismal date?)
Conversion comes in a variety of ways
Wednesday we had trade offs with the Cantonese branch missionaries. I was with Elder Cheung, and Elder Tai was with Elder Lam. Elder Cheung and I worked in my area. We had a great time! Did lots of good work, visited families, found some potential investigators and whatnot. It was great to be around Elder Cheung. Elder Cheung and Elder Lam both are from Hong Kong as well, and both of them lived in the States for a time, just like Elder Tai (who was at BYU-Hawaii). What is even cooler is the opportunity that I get to hear all of these missionaries' conversion experiences. There are so many converts that serve missions! Elder Lam's story is funny: he originally investigated the Church because he wanted to go to BYU Provo and pay less! Hahaha! Conversion comes in a variety of ways. And Elder Cheung is 3rd generation in his family, and his family has a unique story that would take aaaaaages to write.
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| Elder Cheung and another Mortdale missionary |
Thursday we had trade offs with Elder Bourne and Elder Macfarlane. I was with Elder Bourne in their area. We had a great time! Elder Bourne if you remember from Liverpool is from Samoa. He is the man!! We had heaps of fun, witnessed miracles together, and got tired doing it (we were walking). Good stuff! Elder Bourne has excellent English. He went to one of the high schools owned by the Church back in the Islands, and so they had to speak English during school. He used to be a midwife (cool, eh?) and wants to study to be a doctor. The man!
This ward is awesome and super supportive
The sisters in our ward had a baptism last Saturday for a man from Lebanon. It was powerful! He has truly experienced conversion, and his testimony is so strong! It reminded me of Brian when he first got baptized, and all of the other recent converts that I have met. Now is the most important part of this man's conversion; the missionaries transitioning into help from the ward. Luckily this ward is awesome, and super-supportive. Shouldn't be any issues!
Oh yeah, one thing I forgot to mention again is that the ward is amazing with missionary work. We have continued to coordinate with members of the ward, and we will begin teaching a young man this week who's mother is a member and wants him to get baptised. I think he is 11? We will teach him at Bishop T_'s house, with the help of other members. As far as an update with Oceanly and Perlita goes, their entire family was sick on Sunday, so we were not able to meet up with them. However, we should be teaching them at some point this weekend, and they will most likely come to church Sunday as well.
Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles.
Sunday was a great day as well. We were spiritually uplifted, and we renewed our baptismal covenants. What more could we ask for?! We were blessed on Sunday evening with more people to teach, and more opportunity to share the gospel in the future. I think that the main reason that we were blessed is because we have been striving to be exactly obedient in obeying the Lord. Obedience brings blessings. Exact obedience brings miracles. We saw the same thing on Monday. I would tell you guys all of the great experiences that we have had, and the names of all of the people, but that would take up the rest of my week, just to report on last week! Hahaha! But rest assured that we are witnessing the Lord's hand in our work. Don't worry, I will share a miracle or two from yesterday.
Mission Leadership Council (MLC)
Yesterday, we had MLC. It was awesome and uplifting as MLC always is. There were quite a few changes made (little things that y'all couldn't be bothered with). For example, now we will not be having transfer meetings (which is kinda sad), because I will miss out on seeing Elder Winkelman and Elder Cocker bear their last testimonies. But the power that President Back spoke with, the enthusiasm that he has for the work, for obedience, and his enduring testimony and conversion and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ was incredible. I personally learned so much from him, and his wisdom. I think everyone else did as well. And the fire that we took from the meeting really payed off yesterday.
Directly after MLC, we went and contacted a number of people (Potential Investigators, Investigators, Less-Active members, people that we don't know on the Ward List), and we were able to find 3 new investigators with solid return appointments in 1.5 hours. The Lord was with us! We knocked a door and met a young married woman named Melanie from LA, California. She has been here in Aussie world for 3 months. And she is pretty keen to learn! We were guided to knock on her door. We found a Nigerian family with relations that are members. They also want to hear the message that we have to share.
The Spirit is able to touch and soften hearts
As we open our mouth and testify of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or of the Eternal nature of families, or of other important gospel principles, the Spirit is able to touch and soften hearts. And as we overcome our fears and invite people to learn more, our mouths are filled and we can be given what to say in the very moment. That applies to member-missionary work as well. All it takes is simple testimony and an invitation! I have a testimony of that.
I read a scripture today, in D&C 62 speaking of the importance of bearing testimony. Verse 3 says "Nevertheless, ye are blessed, for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you." As we bear testimony of gospel principles, they are recorded in heaven! Wow! And when we bear testimony, we can be forgiven of our sins. That is incredible! So open your mouths and bear testimony! We are promised powerful blessings!
This coming week will be super busy, we have to prepare for ZTM. We also have two trade offs, and heaps of set appointments. So it will be busy, and a good week because of that.
Oh yeah, Elder Tai is indeed pronounced like "tie".
Mojo gets braces.... ouch! Good luck!
Wait, HAPPY ANNIVERSARY MOM AND DAD!!! THAT IS AWESOME! 23 years of awesomeness!!!
Ez, I did have a great week:) thank you. Australian Legos are the same, except they are Australian! Maybe I will have to send some aussie legos soon...
JJ, I wish I got to make a catapult... You lucky! We don't get to do fun projects like that while we are over here serving our missions... And both of you boys are playing bball?? Hey, I get to play b-ball today too with our Assistants to the pres and Mortdale Zone Leaders! (Their P-days got changed too)
Love you all heaps!
Ofa'atu!
Elder Larsen
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| President Back playing scrumball! |
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| Notice the white shirt and tie! and the speed that he is moving at to get the ball! |
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| Sister Back with Sister Taupau (who stole my camera and took pics; just thought you would like to see what they look like in person!) |
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