Splits in Mt Gambier

Email #49
Area: Murray Bridge of the Marion Zone
Companion: Elder Siosi

Excerpts from Mom's email:

On Tuesday we were able to take out a young man who is preparing to serve a mission. His name is N..., he just came from Samoa... Yeah I know another Samoan companion lol! Yeah he has been learning English for some time and he just came over here about a week or two ago to be with his mom who is in our ward. It was really cool because he came out with us all day. I still had to do 99% of the talking in contacts and teaching and stuff since both of them don't have confidence in it yet. That's okay though... anyway we found a new investigator that day, man talks a lot haha. We had a lot of good experiences, even came across a house that has heaps of statues and stuff in the front yard. The guy let us take pics which was nice.

Yep we went to Mt Gambier! That was a really cool trip and a highlight of the week for sure! We go there for many reasons like they don't ever see missionaries out there, so kind of lonely. Plus it helps build the companionship up and we are able to help them. The drive was really a nice one to be honest! I drove for part of it, we mostly just traded drivers every now and then. We listened to really great talks on the way and I really learned a lot that I have never understood fully before. I think my understanding of the gospel is widening. I learned something about the atonement that has helped me appreciate it a lot more lately as well. I look forward to when I can talk to you all about stuff like this, because I wonder what knowledge we can share. So I went down with the zone leaders, both really great missionaries and learned much from them. Once we got down to Mt Gambier I realized just how far off this place is. It is the farthest south area in all of Australia. This small town really is beautiful in some parts though! Check out the pic of the Blue Lake! That was crazy as!!! We split into two companionships, one being a trio. We were able to teach two really great lessons that were so powerful. I has really helped me put a face to who we talk about over the phone and I feel I can help them a lot more to resolve concerns for their investigators. Man that area is hilly though! Never had to bike so hard ever! It is one of the hilliest areas, but was a blast! One video I sent you is giving an idea of how hot it was. So hot that flies would flock together in doorways to stay out of the sun. One door had hundreds that I sent a video of. We spent around two days time their including travel, so Elder Siaosi and another new missionary (Zone leaders comp) had our area for that time. Made me nervous, but they did okay for sure. It was a good experience for him, but soon as we got back they were no joke rejoicing haha. Was pretty funny!

Was a blessed week and I enjoyed so much of it! There were some hard parts during it, but I will be emailing dad about some of that for sure. Not negative things just difficult haha. It will make sense.

Love you and have a good week!


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

Told mom about most of the trip and stuff. But yeah the weather has been a total opposite to yours! You won't believe it!

So the whole week was pretty hot, but Friday! Holly Dang!! It was 45 Degrees C (113° F)!! Wow it was really hot let me tell ya. Hottest thing I have experienced. It was as if you held up a blow drier on high up to your face all day. So that was fun lol. Knocking doors was crack up though, because people's hearts were softened a little bit for our suffering haha. Some nice people let us in to give us a drink and stuff. One dude answered the door immediately and said "I'm not interested in what you are selling, but do you want a class of orange juice?" Yeah we did! So he let us inside and his wife poured us like 4 glasses of orange juice haha. Nice people just not too interested in anything. We tried to stay inside all that we could, but still need to do 3 hours of finding at least, so that is what we did. Exact obiedience! Haha some members were telling us things like "Spirit of the law elders" and "I'm sure God will understand", but nah. Even the sisters smashed it! Used the car all day, but still worked hard haha.

Many of our investigators are currently at a stand still at the moment. We have two though that I feel have some much great potential and that is two of our new investigators this week. One of them was a great experience yesterday. So right after church, I was talking to a member about going to go see a recent convert and he said "yeah, but before that we need to go see one of my friends". Yeah I got pretty excited, so we went over and met J..... She is pretty cool! Her personality is kind of like a vegan Aussie girl, but really humble and real. She is in her late 30's probably. Anyway, we got to talking about her beliefs and she said she is still confused about a lot she has learned. She listened to some J dubs in the past, but guess what they just came out with in their magazine... They said it themselves that they were not inspired by God!!! In their own magazine... So she noticed that and wanted to look into other things of coarse. Anyway, she asked us questions all having to do with The Plan of Salvation, so we decided to teach that. It all clicked! Then we testified how we know and of modern day prophets and revelation. She is really excited to learn more about the restoration! That was really a cool experience.

Well that's my week pretty much haha.
Love you heaps!!!