Transferred to the Mildura South area to be a Zone Leader

Email #50
Area: Mildura South
Companion: Elder Mose and Elder Fala

Excerpts from Mom's email:

Hey Mom!

Wow this week has been another crazy one!!! I even have some crazy news! I will spare you the wait and let you know right away. So I have been transferred to the Mildura South area to be a zone leader there... Yep.. crazy! It is about 5 hours or so from Adelaide. Elder Siaosi is staying here for now so he is nervous. Not exactly what I expected at all. I thought for sure that I would stay here for some time. We will be heading to the mission office in 2 hours and then from there I head to Mildura! I have two new companions, Elder Mose and Elder Fala. Guess what else, they are both from Samoa!! I know Elder Mose, I have seen him around leadership stuff and Elder Mose knows Elder Siaosi. The area I am going to has heaps and heaps of Samoans too! It is like the Samoan area! I'm going to be fat when I get home mom, I'm sorry...

Well this last week in Murray Bridge was one to remember! We have achieved so much! Yes the weather was super hot, but we overcame all that for sure! Knocking doors was a little difficult because as soon as someone opens the door and feels that nice 43 degree air, they say "nope, to hot!" and slam the door. Met some nice people as well who would get us water, even had a lady give us orange juice which was awesome! We have been smashing the bikes still and I am shocked that I am not burned yet! I apply sunscreen, so guess that is why! Not trying to get fried.

We have done a lot of work with the members this past week! We have N... coming out with us regularly now because he was called as a ward missionary. Then we have been trying to do splits to get more done. Eve on Saturday, we taught heaps and at the same time got 4.5 hours of finding in! That one day that we had splits was really awesome! I went out with Bro Reed who is probably one of the best members I have seen involved in missionary work in his personal life! Man, he shares the gospel with everyone and their dog! Just this past week we taught his friend who is leaving the Jehovah's witness and is looking for a faith (something about them announcing in their own magazine that they are not inspired by God...). Anyways he and I went all over the place! He was awesome help! Even as we were driving he saw his trainer in front of the gym and pulled over to talk to her. He was like "so when are we gonna teach you?" haha it was the best! She even said "You already know I am a dry mormon!" How they teach her one day, I wouldn't be surprised. Elder Siaosi and Bro Nick did a lot of finding and even taught a lesson! They did really well! Many fruits from utilizing members for sure! We have grown the teaching pool up a lot! I am disappointed after all the blood, sweat, and tears (mostly sweat) put into growing the area, I have to hand it off. That's okay though. Elder Atkinson will do great here with Elder Siaosi. He is coming from Darwin, so he is used to the heat anyway.

Today I will be sure to take heaps of pictures before I go! Will miss it here! The members are great! It won't be as hard leaving grange, but still. Speaking of! Elder Touti (last companion) is the new district leader in Grange!!! Pretty sweet! Well love you heaps! Have a great week!


Excerpts from Dad's email:

Hey Dad!

Already told mom much of the news so I will just continue with some stories from this past week.

Again it was really hot this week! I have been using that towel you sent and it helps a lot. Drink a lot of water to! It is so hot though that if you don't freeze the water bottle the night before, your water will be hot within the hour of finding. Yes, we still do three hours finding even in this heat. Obedience! Haha even if it is 45 degrees... Well didn't get that hot luckily, but was supposed to. It got close. The weather is really affecting people because nobody wants to come outside.

We found a great man this past week named T....., he is Seventh-day Adventist ... Man got heaps of questions I have never been asked before. I kind of new how to answer, but not fully. On Friday we came crossed him, really nice guy! He investigated in the past, but I think the missionaries left the area and never had follow up. So on Friday we taught him about the Book of Mormon and we explained how it is another testament of Jesus Christ. Then he said he has read it and saw a few things he wasn't sure on so we told him we can help resolve those concerns which include baptisms for the dead and Sabbath day. He said if we can show him that our beliefs are truly biblical, he would be baptized. So that night I studied heaps about those and learned a lot! Came back the next day with Bro Reed who knows his stuff (he even new T.....'s wife). So that lesson started as what you would expect. Kind of exchanging scriptures, very respectfully on both sides, and didn't get very far. When it came down to it I felt prompted to testify again of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon and promised if he truly would read, ponder, and PRAY about it, he would know too. He is taken on my challenge and even came to church yesterday!

Crazy to be transferred after all of this, but I trust that all will go well! Love you heaps and have a good week!