Area: Murray Bridge
Companion: Elder Hirro
Excerpts from Mom's email:
Hey Mom!
This week and a half has been chalk full, so I'll fit as much in as I can. So the week started off with a nice trade off with the elders in Mt Barker. For a change I decided that one of them can come to my area and give him a few tips and things. Well that was my thinking anyway, but then I ended up learning more from this newer missionary then he learned from me I think. Funny how that happens. We got to try a new feature to our teaching, using smart phones! It was especially helpful on this trade off when we taught a man who spoke little English. Well an app that we can now use is one that can translate the things he doesn't understand! We taught a man about God in Vietnamese! The smart phones are a great new tool that we now have to teach the gospel! I'll be honest, moving all the area book records to the phones has been difficult though and a learning curve, but it will be really good with time.
At the end of last week, we traveled to Mount Gambier (about 5 hours or so) and had a great weekend there! We found this one filipino down there just knocking doors, taught him the restoration, and he invited us to come back the next day. So we come back the next day and he has his roommates and a few friends there with him. All of whom are willing to learn about the gospel! My companion was extra excited, because it reminded him of home with all the food they had haha. We also visited all we could there including our investigators who will have a new born baby within two weeks most likely! We taught them the Plan of Salvation and the mother really felt connected knowing where her baby is coming from.
The weekend there was really nice, except for the huge hills on bikes and all the rain haha. The hills there are steep as and so many of them!
Had two sick days this week unfortunately (probably because of the weather in mount gambier), but in that time I learned heaps in my studies! When a member came by to drop off food and give a blessing, he said something that stood out. Something a long the lines of: "Trials are like a large bolder. You can try to move it. You can try to carry it on your own. But a wise mine can take that bolder and carve a beautiful peace of art out of it. There is always a blessing in our trials if you have the vision to see it."
I have come to better understand the purpose of us coming to this earth because of the experience of serving a mission. I have been separated from the presence of my family, my parents whom I've learned so much from. However, I have learned more here in Australia then I could have ever learned if I remained home. This is why God sent us to earth. Yes we learned so much from him before we came to earth, but we never had a chance to apply those things. Yes it was hard to leave his presence. However, both us and God knew how this experience would change us and help us achieve our potential. I'm sure it was just as hard (if not infinitely harder) for God to send us here to mortality as it was for you to send me on a mission. This experience has helped me greater appreciate and recognize the sacrifice God made by sending us here to earth. It has helped me recognize the love he has for us even more.
"May each of us treasure this truth: One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one".- Thomas s Monson
Love you and have a good week!
Excerpts from Dad's email:
Hey Dad!
Today was really nice because we went to the temple! I haven't been to the temple for now more then 6 months and I really missed it a lot. Gordon B Hinckley gave a promise to missionaries that every time they leave the temple, they will be empowered and ready to speak with power and authority! I definitely feel that way! My last thoughts before I left the celestial room was if there was anything else He wanted me to do. I turned open to the Book of Mormon and read the first verse I saw, a way I sometimes seek guidance. My answer came from 3 Nephi 11:41 which says "Therefore, go forth unto this people, and declare the words which I have spoken, unto the ends of the earth." A very straight forward and clear answer that I just need to keep preaching the gospel and am doing His will. It felt like a "keep it up son" and was really touching and powerful for me.
It was also really good to see some of the missionaries. There is one elder who I met when he first arrived. I was in Grange and was training. One day I get a call that I am going to have a second trainy and his name is Elder Ostroph. Well I had him for about a week and he got shipped off to Alice Springs. Well I was able to catch up with him and exchange a few experiences we had with the aboriginal culture.
I heard a great parable recently that I thought I would share: "When a silversmith is purifying the silver, he puts it in a scorching hot fire. He watches as the impurities separate from the silver. When the time is right, he takes it out of the fire. It is when he can see himself in the silver that he know it is time. When the savior can see himself in us, that is when we can be taken out of the refiners fire."
Recovering from the flu was pretty tough, but I noticed something. Healing the body and healing the soul are two different things! Healing the body requires a need to turn inward and think about yourself. Healing the soul requires the exact opposite, turn yourself outward. The day following being sick I felt spiritually drained until I got out there and served!
Our investigators are all doing well. Has been tough lately to meet with all of them due to being down in Mount Gamiber and being sick, but for those that we could they are doing well. Hopefully we can play catch up for the next few days. N.... we saw yesterday and I am starting to understand her needs a little bit more. We found out that she has a daughter, so that opens up a few things. She doesn't seem to live with her because of medical reasons, but I hope to meet her sometime. I think she is 2.
The members have been coming through for us by the way, even when we were in sick the members brought us food. They come out with us teaching, they show the love all the time. It is just so great!
I still don't feel like I have reached the 18th month mark, it just has gone by so dang fast. Feels like yesterday I hit the year mark. Honest, serving here again in Murray Bridge has brought back a lot of memories as well. Feels like I have never left to be honest. I am not sure what the future will hold with transfers next week, but I am okay with whatever happens.
Love you heaps and have a good week!
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