29 April 2013

We had exchanges again on Friday/Saturday and I went to Wembley with Sister Liu. It was good. I think Sister Liu really needed the exchange. I hope I helped. I loved going with her again. She is such an amazing missionary. I'm so proud of how far she has come. She finishes the transfer after me. She asked me if I planned on going to the convention at the end of the year because she plans on going. I told her I didn't think so but maybe.
 

We got told that all the American sisters have had their visas approved so we are getting a large intake next week. There is no guarantee I will train an American but President said in last interviews that I would definitely be going to Waneroo this coming transfer either with a half trained sister or a completely untrained sister. Things could change any time.
 

Pretty uneventful week. This Wednesday night we are having a YSA activity in Greenmount. It is a bake off, boys v girls and you have to make a cake from scratch. It will be fun.

22 April 2013

So what has been happening this week? I don't know how exciting things are but I have definitely been recognising some blessings that Heavenly Father is giving me that will affect my life forever.

 

People ask why I decided to serve a mission? In short: God told me to. Simple as that. It has always been a part of my "spiritual DNA" that I had to serve a mission.What awakened me that it was so vital to serve a mission? Who knows? But I am starting to see now. It just goes to show you don't see or know everything but God does. He knows what is best for you and what is in store if we follow His guidance and then later we see the benefits and blessings for ourselves.
 

We had Elder Ronald A. Rasband, Bishop Gerald Causse and President F. Michael Watson and their wives come and speak to us on Friday. It was really cool. I got alot out of it.
 

Tomorrow we give service at King's Park and are cleaning the memorial plaques with toothbrushes and then having zone meeting afterwards.
 

Today we are having a zone pday at Whiteman Park and having a bbq. It's been raining during the night and it's cloudy so we are hoping the weather holds out.
 

Tonight we go to teach Janina in Midland area. She is the girlfriend of a member and she is eager to learn and ask questions so she can decide for herself if this is the true Church of Christ. We plan on inviting her to be baptised tonight.

Sister Parsons and Sister Simon with cookie moustaches

15 April 2013

Sister Liu, Latulipe, Donaldson, Terry, Simon, Parsons

 

 

Last night we had a cottage evening. I was asked to sing "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" and I sang it to "Come Thou Fount". I sang acapella. I was rather good if I can say that without being prideful. I always sing the best when I sing for the Lord.

Nothing out of the ordinary to report here. Had a random come up to us at the shops the other day while taking a break and he said "You're Mormons aren't you? Most Mormons are good people."

We biked in the rain for a few days. Yay! It makes me feel like a real missionary. Plus we got a few more raindrops on our badges. Funny missionary stories say that the more raindrops a sister gets on her missionary badge, the more handsome her husband will be. QUICK! GET ME SOME RAIN! ahahaha.

Last monday we went to Harbourtown, this small outlet store place. I was preparing to have to control myself when we went to typo but to my surprise i didn't buy a single thing that day! Are you proud of me? :D

Had fun on exchanges with Sister Terry, biked everywhere and my butt got really sore again. I still ride my bike, but not as often as I used to. My knee kept hurting as I went up hills.

Sister Simon and Sister Parsons

Did I ever tell you that I got a new bike? When Sister Uhi went home a few transfers ago I asked her if I could have her bike and she gave it to me for free! It was a huge blessing as my bike from home was dead. it would change gears on me while riding on flat ground and 2 weeks before I got Sister Uhi's bike, I lost 7 gears. The Lord will always provide for his servants!

Conference was awesome. I loved Elder Bednar's talk on chastity. It was so forward and direct. ahaha.
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/we-believe-in-being-chaste?lang=eng

and Elder Holland's talk was great:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/lord-i-believe?lang=eng

I also liked Elder Falabella's talk. I hope to have a relationship and family like this someday soon:
http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/the-home-the-school-of-life?lang=eng

8 April 2013 - Another Baptism

We had a baptism on Saturday! Allison in Midland area. Allison has been investigating the Church for 4 years and finally was baptised on Saturday 6th April. She is a scientist and her conversion is strong. Her 2 oldest girls Brooke and Gemma (twins) are already baptised and now her youngest daughter Georgia wants to be baptized! Only thing holding her back is she needs her dad's permission and he's not too keen on the Church.

We set another baptismal date last night! Josh, Maryam (also with a baptismal date) and Saeed's (recent convert) son wants to be baptised "just like Jesus". We set his and his mum's date for the 11th of May. I'm pretty sure something else is happening on that day too...

I met Jay at Church a few weeks ago! I knew Jay from YSA in Sydney almost from the start of my time in YSA. He was in Newcastle Stake. His family had us over for dinner last week and I walked past him in the corridor and I was like "what are you doing here?!" And he said "I live here! What are you doing here?!" To which I replied: "I'm serving a mission!" It was cool to catch up.

 

 

I include the photo of the traumatising event Sister Donaldson inflicted upon me a few weeks ago. Don't be too upset, Archie is ok, I got him down and saved him.

Sister Simon and I have been covering both Alexander Heights and Midland areas but living in the Alexander Heights flat. On Saturday night we were told to move in to the Midland flat and in a way, I was told "you are technically not even in your zone, Alexander Heights doesn't matter as much, as you're both being doubled out of it soon and Sister Simon needs to have a good running area to bring her new missionary into." ...I was upset at the inclination that the work in "my area" wasn't as important. I cried when I said the closing prayer after nightly planning when I said "please bless Mariam and Sarah" because I felt like I was abandoning them and that they weren't going to get much attention.

I talked with Elder Segi later that night and he was kind. He understood how I felt and he said "don't worry, Heavenly Father will take care of them". I know that's true but I kind of feel like I've been saying my whole mission "I'm sorry Heavenly Father, I'll do better next time" as we always do when we repent but that that chance to do better has been taken from me. It just goes to show, don't procrastinate the day of your repentance! (Alma 13:27)

Sisters exchanges tonight until Wednesday morning. I'm going to Maylands to be with Sister Terry (yes! British!).

Zone conference this Thursday (all Aussies have been asked to sing the national anthem), then we have a special meeting with some autorities next Thursday and I have been asked to sing with the 7 other missionaries the "As sisters in zion/Army of Helaman" medley. Yay!

25 March 2013: Training in Waneroo

GUESS WHO'S BACK WITH A POST-MODERN RAP, I PACK SO MUCH FLAVOUR THAT I MAKE YOUR TONGUE SNAP:

I'M TRAINING!!!
Sorry, had to get that little mc lars rhyme out of my system.

Transfer calls this morning. Sister Donaldson and I are both training. Sister Donaldson is staying here in Alexander Heights and I am going to Waneroo in North Coast Zone.

This past week was really tiring. We had another baptism! Sarah, Mariam's mum was baptised on Saturday. After her baptism we taught a lesson to Majid and Maryam, (investigators from Iran who speak Persian) and committed them to baptism and they said yes! we set their baptismal date for Saturday 27th April.

On Saturday night we had permission to take Mariam to North Coast Stake to attend a ward's "drama night". Karen Parish drove us all there. She also turned up at our flat with roast pork and fried rice from the Chinese restaurant we would buy food from when we used to eat at her house. She's the best! Anyway, the drama night was fun and Mariam really enjoyed herself. There were pieces performed from Anne of Green Gables, Pride and Prejudice, Fawlty Towers and Annie.

Brother Baker asked for your emails yesterday at Church. He is the brother who asked me about my "gospel heritage" and called me a blue blood.

We're low on ks - less than 150ks for a whole week! And we have transfers this week too :-|

This past week my companion and I have gained a unique twist on our companionship. We had an interesting companionship inventory in weekly planning on Thursday. She teased me so much about something and called the Elders to tell them that I jumped her and we wrestled. Ahahaha. It was so funny. It was full on too. And she bit me on my finger. SHE TOOK A CHUNK OUT OF MY FINGER AND MADE ME BLEED!!! She also bit me on the scalp.