"Wembley"

Sisters Jeffrey, Vos, Fakatou, Navarro, Parsons, Robbins & Myers 

05/09/12

Transferring Missionaries 

05/09/12

(Monday September 10 2012)

We had transfers on Wednesday and we moved into our flat in Wembley. It’s nice and it's an actual apartment in an apartment building. It’s the first time I’ve lived in a flat and I’m still getting used to the noise around me from other flats. The area book was a complete mess and all over the apartment. Teaching records had not been updated since January 2012 when the last sister missionaries were in Wembley.

President Lindsay was really nice and drove us to our flat, as there was no transport for us. As he was driving he told us in passing how the elders, just in our area, had been threatened by a man with a gun, telling them if they were Jehovah’s Witnesses, he would have shot them. ... Thanks President. From stalker creepy man to gun man. And we're pretty sure we've already met another creepy man in our area.

 I don't really want anything for my birthday.  I bought a recipe book full of whoopie pies, cookies, and macaroon recipes:] that can be my present :)

Today we will be having a district activity in King's Park in the city. We're having a barbeque and some activities.

There is a nice "gourmet pizza" shop near our house. We had no food in the house because of transfers so we ate there the other night. Soooooo good! I ate a smoked salmon, roast pumpkin, cream cheese and some other stuff pizza. I thought of Aliyah :)

Our zone leaders are doing a cool thing for us all. They asked us to all take photos of ourselves this morning and email them to them so they could make them into an "I’m a Mormon" card. It’s for our whole zone. It’s going to be awesome!

love Sister Parsons

"Alma 18"

 

Back Row - 

 Sisters Mason (Aus), Parsons (Aus), Elder Daniels (NZ), Sister Robbins (Aus), 

Elder Wright (USA), Sister Myers (USA)

Front Row -

 Elders Jordan (USA), Naruo (Guam), Thomson (Canada), Ford (Aus)

(Monday September 3 2012)

Yes, I did mean to put Aliyah's name as "Aliyah Parsons". I also sent a letter to Kate once only addressed as "The Master". Unfortunately they can't do it to me in return, otherwise I won't get my mail :)

So how did I see Claudia? And how did I see Brody Watson or Jen Tongi? There is a family who moved into Leschenault Ward not too long ago called the Tongi family. Josh and Nadea moved over from Sydney. Josh grew up in Mt Druitt, his parents are Brother and Sister Tongi in Mt Druitt Ward. Their oldest son Zedekiah had his baptism on Saturday so all the family had arrived for it. I saw Jen Tongi on Wednesday night and she told me Claudia was coming for the baptism too. So that's how we met up. Then at the baptism I saw Brody! He had moved over to Perth.

Aw! I miss typo so much!

Things have been going up and down. I haven't made my diary recordings all transfer.

We also gained a new investigator on Saturday! His name is Shaun and he thought it was really nice that we would give him a Book of Mormon and he said he would read it. I was so proud of myself, I was able to teach him right there on his driveway. He said he believed in a "great spirit" and I immediately had Alma 18 come to mind when Ammon teaches King Lamoni that the "great spirit" he believes in is in fact God. Never have I had this experience on my mission!

We got told this morning what is happening with transfers. So there are a massive amount of missionaries leaving from Bunbury Zone. First let me explain who is here now:

Busselton - Elders Wright and Jordan

North Bunbury - Elders Ford and Naruo (Zone Leaders)

South Bunbury - Sisters Mason and Robbins

Australind - Elders Daniels and Thomson (District Leader)

Leschenault - Sisters Parsons and Myers

  

So all of the Sisters in the Bunbury Zone are being moved out and it will be a complete Elders Zone. I wonder what our ward members will think. "What did we do?" ha-ha. They got 4 new missionaries in the Leschenault ward at the start of this transfer and 3 out of 4 are leaving. Devastating.

So where are we going?

Busselton - Elders Jordan and Duke

North Bunbury - Elders Ford and Naruo (Zone Leaders)

South Bunbury - Elders Richmond and Marshall

Australind - Elders Daniels (District Leader) and Askeroth

Leschenault - is being given to the Australind Elders to work in.

There were surprising and massive changes again. Elder Thomson is going Zone leader in Warwick Zone with Elder Martin... but they won't be companions. They are sharing a 4 man flat and are both training new missionaries. Elder Wright has only been out 6 months, and has been in Busselton the entire time and he is now going straight to Zone Leader in Rockingham Zone (he has never been district leader!)

Sister Mason is going with Sister Manu in Norandah (that's the Dianella Zone Leaders area, so I don't know where the Zoneys are now?) and Sister Myers and I are staying together and are being doubled in to Wembley in Dianella Zone. So at the end of this transfer, I will have been out for 9 months and in that time had 3 companions and 3 areas and 2 out of 3 (we'll see what happens at the end of this transfer) areas I have been doubled into and out of! On the other hand I am Sister Myers 9th Companion and she has been out about a year. I can't remember how many areas she has had but it's a lot.

YESSSSSSS. BACK TO CIVILISATION. On the downside, it's another elder's flat we're going in to.

It’s been pouring rain this entire time I’ve been emailing. We’re going to play capture the flag in the park but I think it might be water sports.

And now the dilemma. How are we going to get 4 sisters with all their luggage to transfers on Wednesday in 1 car? Do we have a Tetris pro anywhere near?

Love Sister Parsons

p.s Mum, there is a site you can go on, something about "mission mums" and you can talk with other mums whose children are serving missions and you can talk to the mums of missionaries in my mission. You should try and find the site and talk with Sister Robbins mum or Sister Myers. They said their mums found each other on the site and were chatting.

"Endure to the End = Enjoy to the End!"

 Sister Parsons, Ella and Jake 

25/8/12

(Monday August 27 2012)

So nothing much has happened this week. We still tract doors all day with very little success. On the up side, the Elders in our ward have 3 baptismal dates set. As Elder Hamular said at his recent visit, when we pray every night to find people to teach, we are praying for our whole mission, not just for our area. So when things don't happen in our area, doesn't mean it's not working.

Elder Hamular came to visit our mission and everyone got to go hear him speak - except for us in Bunbury Zone because we were too far away to bring in for the meeting. I understand someone has to sacrifice sometimes but I would feel a little better if I thought my efforts were showing. Like, "we're too busy to attend the meeting, we're too busy setting baptismal dates!" I feel like our efforts are wasted here in Leschenault. We get weekly lesson totals of 4 lessons for a whole week and half of them are less active/recent convert lessons. I didn't come on my mission to waste my time over and over again with no one who will listen. I have to keep reminding myself that no effort is wasted in the Lord's eyes. Even though I think I’m wasting my time and could be doing something more worthwhile, trying to save souls is the most important thing I will have done so far in my life.

"Every finding effort is honourable"

We also had the privilege of missing out on attending the temple this transfer. Again, we're too far away.

I’m glad you bumped into Lizzie. I wanted to write a letter to Alexis but I don't know her address and I don't know how you would get the letter to her. She sms’d me the night before I left but I had no credit to reply. Lizzie and Alexis were so busy with everything else that for a long time before I left they didn't have any time for me, that i gave up.

We have transfers next week so can you not send me anything until I email you next Monday please? If I get moved, I don't want mail stuck in Leschenault while I’m elsewhere. When people mail us, it goes to the office, then the office "mails" it again sending it to our flats. It can take up to 2 weeks to get a letter and a bit longer for packages.

We had a cool experience this week. tracting, and when people say "not interested" we always ask if they know of any family or friends that would be interested. Never in Sister Myers or my mission so far has anyone ever said yes. We knocked on a door, a girl named Cecilia answered and said she was too busy to hear our message. We asked if she knew anyone who would be interested and she said "uuuh-yes." She then gave us the address for her boyfriend and his mother who live in the same house in Australind, the elders area. I was pretty stoked. First time that had ever worked! She was genuine and even said she would message her boyfriend and let him know we were coming. We gave the referral to the elders and a few days later they gave us a call and said they had contacted the boyfriend and mother. The amazing thing was is that they were the brother and mother of a girl who the elders were teaching and already had a baptismal date with! They all lived in the same house!

We love going to a part member family's home and teaching the children. Jake and Ella are only young but they are very bright! They love to see us, and are all over us, and love learning about the gospel. We taught them about the 5 parts of the gospel of Jesus Christ and the last part is to "endure to the end" we asked them to repeat what each step was and would give them hints. When it came to endure we said "starts with e..." to which Ella enthusiastically answered, "ENJOY to the end!" it made my day. So that is what I will be trying to do more.

"Find joy in the journey" - Thomas S. Monson

"Enjoy to the end!" - Ella

Enjoying to the end!

Sister Parsons

 Sister Parsons and Sister Myers 

25/8/12