Sunday 23 October 2016

Week 40

Launceston, Tasmania: Oct 10-16, 2016

Teaching, tracting, finding new and less actives, giving training. People welcomed our presence and accepted our invitations.  In Tasmania, lots of original Australians and Nepalese, a bit different in Melbourne where I met heaps of Polynesians..also snow in the mountains and crazy fun mix of rain, hail and sun as we went about..A great week!

Oct 10, Monday - It took us 3 hours to get to Hobart, capital of Tasmania, from Launceston. The weather was crazy fun - rained, hailed, sunny and vice versa.  Seemed like the big dark cloud was following us, haha..The view was magnificent; there were lots of sheep.

We ate dinner with my comp Sister Tupu's aunt and her husband.  They are not LDS but her aunt was active in recording family history while Nigel accepted our invitation to search his family as well.

We spent the night with the Glen Huon Sisters.  They got a cake from one of the members' birthday party.

                       Sister Ligica from Fiji, Sister Haenga from Brisbane

Oct 11, Tuesday - This view was taken during our early morning exercise..brrr soo cold, colder than Launceston; also a pose from one of the rivers ..
 
Then we attended the Zone meeting with Hobart District.  A split zone meeting for Hobart and Devonport Hobart was held.

SisTAS which means Sister missionaries in Tasmania..haha I gave the sister group name. L_R: Sister Ligica, Sister Roberts (Florida, Sandy Bay area), Sister Tupu, Sister Haenga (Brisbane, Glen Huon area), Me, Sister Pratt (Golden from Layton, Utah, Sandy Bay area)  Sandy Bay sisters were Chinese program. Just awesome Americans speaking Chinese.

My companion and I gave training about Family History as a powerful finding tool.  People that we meet might not be interested about our message but in family history. 
HOBART District

Then we went up Mt. Wellington for lunch with the Glen Huon Sisters.  It was snowing up the Mountain and saw a wallaby. 



After lunch, we returned to Launceston and had dinner with Sister Taylor. Sister Taylor had a big property but alone because her husband passed away 3 years ago.  He used to be the CES Coordinator.  We shared the Plan of Salvation and encouraged her to invite friends to the Ward Talent Show and start gospel conversations using the Family history Card and the Family Proclamation to the world.  We were excited to follow up.
           
Oct 12, Wednesday - Visited Sister Birell, 90, active and pretty independent. We read with her Mark 9, the scripture of the day for the Stake Scripture Reading challenge. 

This is Balfour St., the steepest street I think.  Challenge if we can run straight from bottom to top, so far, can't even hike up without wheeww..out of breath!

We then ate lunch at Park City, where the monkeys were but couldn't find them.  Sister Tupu prepared tuna and ham sandwich.  When it started hailing, we ran back to the car and grabbed dessert snowcones to our next appointment.




Also visited Sister Byrne but seemed like no one's home, this is her property..soo beautiful and big.

We also visited a few less actives in the ward list and found Brenda while tracting.  She talked to us and offered to pay for the pamphlet we gave her.  We told her that it's free and she agreed that we come back and share more.

We had dinner with the Kauwhata family with Justine, Peta (YSA student staying with them) and David (non-LDS friend of Justine and Peta, a Chinese from Malaysia).  We taught David the Plan of Salvation and invited him to be baptized.  He understood that following the gospel of Jesus Christ will help him go back to Heavenly Father's presence.

Also met Jamuna and her family from Nepal, a bit hard teaching them because of language barrier.  Sister Tupu and I managed to teach and read to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The family invited us to Jamuna's brother's wedding next week.

Oct 13, Thursday - Stopped by this small pier on our way to the Read family.

Read family is Scottish, I loved their accent. A view of their property from the kitchen.

Sister Read prepared pasta, yummy, and ice cream for dessert.  She shared her conversion story, how when she was 16 years old in Scotland, she visited the church and asked a member if she was allowed inside.  The member smiled and said, yes, then called the missionaries and introduced her to them.  She was looking for a church and felt the Spirit here.  Brother Read was with the British Air Force during the war and had a cabinet full of model airplanes..soo cool!

We then attended Ward Council and I got to meet for the first time the auxiliaries and Josh, the ward mission leader.

Oct 14, Friday - After our DLC over the phone, we visited Allison, Emma and Shirelle. Lunch at the Gorge.


This is Grandpa Jack, 92, very active, joined EVERY church activity, including Women's Broadcast, attended both Esk Ward and Tamar Ward.  He had a big family, always greeted members at the door, and opened the door for everyone.  He bought us dinner today, fish and chips.

We also visited another family, Vinen.  Sister Vinen's cat slept on my lap, not sure what to do..haha.  We shared Prayer and she said that it had helped her in life.

Oct 15, Saturday- We did service today by painting a room in Sister Bec's house.  Her house was flooded months earlier.  I was very excited to do painting, something different from my previous areas where we weed.  She had 2 lovely kids.

We visited Anne, a former investigator, whom we called yesterday to make today's appointment.  (Her name kept popping up days earlier.  I saw a letter addressed to her from previous missionaries in the car and I wondered who Anne was.)  Anne showed us her birds.  We had a good discussion about living prophets and said she would read the Book of Mormon. According to her, three of her kids were ministers of other churches and she would go to Flinders Island every 2 weeks.  We hope we could catch her again despite her busy schedule.

The Challis Family gave us dinner today, such cool and funny family!.  Brother Challis just retired from being principal in a school.  Brother and Sister Challis were Sunday School teachers and preparing to serve a mission.  They enjoyed family history works and travelling, would be going to Europe for 5 months next year.

Oct 16, Sunday - I got to meet the members in Tamar Ward.  I was invited to share a missionary moment at the opening of Relief Society.  I shared about how we met Karen and how smiles and prayer helped us find people to teach.

Later, had dinner with the bishop and his family who lived near Perth.  While in the area, we visited a few less actives.  We met Bro. Daniel and he gave us each a Footy ball and his son, Isaac, taught us how to throw the ball properly. His wife and children had been attending Catholic church and school and he didn't want to confuse them with different religions.  He said that one day, he would come back to LDS.











Saturday 22 October 2016

Week 39

Melbourne and Tasmania: Oct 3 - 9, 2016

Lots of flying as I was transferred to Tasmania; flew back to Melbourne for training, then returned to Tasmania, viewed General Conference in the chapel, and more...

With Elder Meyer and Elder Banner
Oct 3, Monday - We went to Point Cook Park to watch sunrise and hold testimony meeting with the zone. Four of us were leaving the zone: Elder Bennion to Braeside, Elder Lungu going home to Maldova, Elder Liu to Hobart, Tasmania and Me to Launceston, Tasmania.  My comp, Sister Paulo would be with Sister Johnson to train a Golden again.  They both trained Sister Manosig before they were called STL.

Wyndham Zone
We picked up Sister Johnson at the airport, then visited Jenti and the kids. This was the last time I would see them and I didn't give them any clue.

Oct 4, Tues - Transfer day. I gave the car keys to Sister Johnson. I would be Sister Tau'a'alo's companion for the day and we also attended a leadership training. She would be training a new missionary arriving tomorrow.
Sisters Paulo, Tau'a'alo, Me, Faiga, Johnson. Sister Faiga wa going to Tullamarine, West.


Elder Rolfe was cleaning the office while waiting for exit interview with Pres. Vidmar. He would be going home tomorrow. We went with Sister Vidmar to pick up a rental van for the Goldens tomorrow. They used to rent a bus but the mission could save money if they rent a van (1 van more in addition to the existing 2 vans in the mission).
Departing missionaries - Elders Deng, Peng and Finau.

Stayed with the Wantirna Sisters. We visited the Liki Liki family and a recent convert from El Salvador, Ana with her 2 kids, Lucas and Santiago.
Sister Lambert (going to Wagga wagga to train a new missionary), going to the West side..huhu..I'm not there anymore, but it's okay. Sister Rhodes would be training a new missionary.

Oct 5, Wed - Driving to the airport

Elder Jensen (from Alberta) would be training 2 Goldens and would be a District leader in Heidelberg Zone. Elder Jeremiah (AP), Elder Howell (new AP) and Elder Morones, new DL in Tasmania. all for Tasmania!  We flew together.

While waiting in the airport, we ate breakfast and had the chance to talk to Dario. He took our photo and couldn't be in the photo with his work uniform. Dario accepted 3 pamphlets to read, was nice to us and interested in what we do as missionaries. He just bought a house which he counted as achievement. I was not able to get his information but he had the mission office number, hopefully, he would have find time to call. 

We landed Tasmania around noon and met Sister Tupu who was with Claudia, her companion for the past 2 days. Claudia was a really awesome member-missionary but her parents were not LDS. We visited a few formers, met new contacts and had a lesson with investigator, Paul, a friend of the Kauwhata family. Paul had lots of questions. We watched the Restoration video with them. Tasmania was cool and so much green.

Oct 6, Thurs - Walked into this park during exercise.

We had DLC this morning,  my first time to have DLC over the phone. We then visited Jackie and her godson Paul and read the teachings of President Hunter with them, after which, Jackie drove us to the airport. 

Flying back to Melbourne for MLC.

Waiting for STL-west Sisters to pick us up. I used to pick up the Tassie Sisters, now they're to pick us up..just felt weird.
With Sisters Johnson and Paulo, we had dinner in this Kebab place, Sister Wairepo's favorite kebab place. 

We stayed in the mission home, ate bread and choco milk with Pres and Sis. Vidmar; they asked me about my impressions of Tasmania.
Had a little chat with these Sisters before going to sleep; it's good to catch up with them.




Oct 7 , Fri - Power walking in the morning with Sister Vidmar; she told us to walk faster and that we needed to catch up with her. .hahah.. she's so cool. We walked from the mission home to the Temple and back .. haha..























Hawaiian haystack for lunch at MLC; Sisters table.

The Assistants broke the tradition and joined in..clockwise: Sisters Dulaki, Larsen, Johnson, Elders Jeremiah and Howell, Sisters Terripaia, Tupu, Edwards, Paulo and Me.

Sister Edward's birthday today and Elder Deng going home.
Elder Olan photobombing -

After MLC, we went to pick up Sister Johnson and Paulo's golden, Sister Ihaka (from Fiji but she grew up in Sydney), who stayed with the Sunshine Sisters while we were in MLC.
Going to Tarneit; would stay with them for the night.

Oct 8 - Sat - They drove us to the airport; ate breakfast; flying back to Tasmania with our zone leaders, Elders Poulson and Albrechtson. 

i met the same flight attendant from last Wednesday and she asked us about our badges, a missionary opportunity. RS president Sister Wheeler picked us up from the airport. Photo shows her daughter Eve, soo cute! I met Sister Wheeler last Thursday and shared a message. She also shared to us her story and that she's an 8-generation Tasmanian. Her family was part of the first fleet from England.

We did bread runs every fortnight. We were given a list of people to drop breads. These bread were not sold after 5 pm, and instead of throwing them out, gave them to us to give out. Today, we had 21 bags to give out... so excited!

Viewed Saturday Session of the General Conference in the chapel..
Our place

The Library

Oct 9, Sun - Viewed General Conference-Sunday Session in the Chapel.