Como andamos? Estaba una semana buena. There is a reason for reverting to Spanish, and it has to do with the past week:)... Hopefully I will have time to tell you all about it!
Full week - Miracles, knocked doors, crazy yelling people, barking lions...
Gosh, what a full week! Full of miracles, experiences, hardships, knocked doors, crazy yelling people, barking lions (dogs the size of lions), beautiful scenery, laughs and great times with a great companion, and a number of other physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual experiences that give me quite the roller coaster of a mission.
What to say? Firstly, yes, it is actually referred to as the "Gong". I think it is kinda funny, because I normally associate Gongs with Chinese stuff, and there are heeeeeeeeaaaaps of Chinese people here! Wollongong is wonderful! It is a beautiful area, directly north of Dapto on the beaches of Australia. This is where we did our zone P-day a couple transfers ago! It is starkly different from Campbelltown, in that it is predominantly white people, with a large population of Chinese and other Asians. There also seems to be a fair amount of South American people.
Shotgun report
We had an interesting week, trying to get used to the area, after both of us white-washing the area. A fun fact: In our mission, we call it "Shotgunning an area" instead of "White-washing". This is the second time I have shotgunned an area, the first being my first day in the mission. It is a bit difficult to do so, but fortunately, we have Heavenly Father on our side! Our first day, we were a bit lost, looking through records in the area book, and at faceless names on the ward list. We had a bit of direction from what is called a "Shotgun report" written by the previous missionaries, telling us some people to go and visit, but it could help only to an extent. In the end, we really just needed to get out and do it!
So that is what we have been doing over the course of the past week! It is better now, because we know the area better and what suburbs are close to each other, but at the beginning we seemed to be driving back and forth, all over the place, just trying to figure out the area, and contact different people. We were given a specific assignment from President Back to work with the Ward, because many missionaries in the past have focused on the University here, teaching and baptizing investigators that quickly leave the area. They want us to build the Ward. So that's what we have been doing.
There is need for virtually every language in the book
I have found opportunities to use some of my Samoan. There is a family that hadn't been to church for months that we were able to visit (Samoan fam), and we were able to get to know, speak some Samoan, and share a message that touched them. And the family came to church this Sunday! Cool stuff!
It really has been a blessing to know a bit of a number of different languages. Sydney is so diverse that there is need for virtually every language in the book! I have had heaaaaps of opportunities to use the Spanish I know. I am glad that I still know quite a bit of it, and it comes out still (after a bit more effort). We met 4 Spanish speakers here since we have been here, and we had wonderful experiences with 3 of them. 1 is from Mexico (that is pretty rare!). And the other 3 are from Chile.
He believes in a higher power, but not in any religion
Now let me tell you about the good experiences that we had with Spanish speakers. The first one (and probably the best) was with a man named V_. The experience that we had with him is probably one of the most significant door approaches that I have had on my mission, for sure. We knocked on his door, looking for a guy named Ben, who apparently had moved (we were told by V_). So he talked with us instead. Now, he is a uni student, graduating this week actually from UOW (University of Wollongong). He is from Mexico originally, but apparently lived in San Diego for ages! That's pretty cool! He is the man! We spoke with him a bit, and got to know him better. He told us he grew up Catholic, but doesn't believe in the Catholic church. He believes in a higher power, but not in any religion specifically. We told him of our unique message, of our loving Heavenly Father, and his Plan for his children. We taught him (in short) of prophets, and the pattern of apostasy and restoration. We taught him of Christ's earthly ministry, and of the eventual universal apostasy that occurred.
The looks on his face, and his responses told us that it made sense to him and that he was feeling something. We then told him of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ through another prophet, Joseph Smith. We told him of the convincing evidence of this restoration, the Book of Mormon. We invited him to read out loud Moroni 10:4-5, and he told us that essentially, he understands that if he asks God if this is true, God will tell him. We bore testimony, and shared a bit more.
"I don't really believe in God, but I still pray every night"
Something was on his mind as the short teaching session continued. He told us "Something keeps coming to mind. I can't get it out of my head. You will probably think that I am crazy... But all I can think about, and all I could think about since I read those verses in Moroni 10:4-5 is the one time that I felt God answering my prayers. Crazily enough, I don't really believe in God, but I still pray every night. Is that weird? There was one time that I really knew God heard and answered my prayer. And that is all I can think about."
We told him boldly that those thoughts were from the Holy Ghost, that over time he would be able to recognize how the Spirit was influencing him. He was speechless, and the Holy Ghost filled our hearts. "I don't know what to say..." He said. "This is the only thing that has sounded true to me in any religious materiel I have reviewed since, well, forever really..." We invited him to read and pray about the BoM, which he readily accepted. We then invited him to follow Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone with that restored authority. What he responded was touching "...I don't know if I can do that... I don't think that I could ever be like Jesus Christ. Maybe I will be more like Joseph Smith, trying to be good and know what God wants, but still human. But yes, I will." What an incredible experience to have! He will unfortunately be returning at the end of the month to the States.... But we will see where we go with him!!
I don't have much time to tell you about the other Spanish people, time is almost gone. I also don't have time to answer the questions about the book of Mormon, but can you include them in your email next week? I really do want to answer them!
I love you guys heaps! Have a fantastic week! Next week I will have more pics:)
Love,
Elder Larsen
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