Saturday 25 February 2017

Week 58

Dandenong: Feb 13-19, 2017


We were stunned with our investigators..coming to church, Word of Wisdom solved, baptism on Saturday, Feb 25. Many miracles this week. 


Feb 13, Monday - Yeay, we had fun washing the car..then it rained..haha..
Bought this big pineapple for cheap price. I found food was cheaper in Dandenong than Tasmania.

We did service today by helping the Samau Oeti family moved and they provided us dinner as well.  The family had 2 boys and 2 girls under 11..soo cute and energetic.

We also visited Estelle, Linda's friend from Footscray. (We taught Linda and she was baptized.) It was Estelle who introduced Linda to the missionaries and was also a BOM-giver record holder.  We shared something about the BOM with Estelle and she invited us to write our testimonies in the BOM so that she could give it away.  She gave a talk last Sunday about BOM missionary work.  She couldn't walk and used/drove a wheelchair car..hehe..she's awesome!

Feb 14, Tuesday - Zone Conference, East Side
We were taught by Brother Steve Allen, the Managing Director of the Missionary Department of the Church, on how we could best use this Book of Mormon campaign to bring souls to Christ.  We also saw some video clips about the Priesthood by the Managing Director of the Visitor's Center of the Priesthood Restoration Site.

After the conference, we drove the Lynbrook Sisters back to their area.  then we visited the part-member family Seppings.  Brother Seppings was nice but didn't want to change yet. His wife used to be the Relief Society president and very active in Church.  The children were active too and helping their Dad to accept the teachings.  We shared with the family about Temples.  Brother Seppings was willing to read and pray about the Book of Mormon again.

Feb 15, Wed - Today, we had District Meeting and did a lot of role plays.  Then, we had exchanges with the Lynbrook Sisters who were just 20 minutes away from us. Sister Tamani came with me to Dandenong while my other companions worked in Lynbrook with Sister Caguimbal. 
We visited a few new contacts and did some tracting as well.  This was Sister Tamani's 2nd week in the mission field. She was willing to learn and so while driving, we did some role plays on how to approach people on their doors.  We had a miracle when we visited Milika, the new contact we found last week.  The son opened the door and told us that Milika left 10 minutes earlier.  We then met her daughter, Nora, who said she is Muslim, and we gave her a card and invited her to visit the website.  She then said, "Oh wait, you are Mormons.  I know about the play in the city.  I know that it is a mockery to your beliefs.  I was gonna look for people like you so I can ask for a copy of the Book of Mormon and read it, I love reading." So we gave her a copy and a brief introduction.  She was surprised that the Book of Mormon (BOM) is free.  She was leaving for work so we would share more when we come back.

Feb 16, Thurs - This morning, we did some 12 weeks study and role plays.  We had lunch at the Lynbrook flat, cooked corned beef and fried chicken..YUM. Then  we switched back to our companionships.

We then went to the Library and did our weekly planning while waiting for our investigators.

We visited the Ariki family from New Zealand. We read 1Nephi 3:5-7 with Sister Ariki's 5-yr old granddaughter and learned more about Nephi's obedience. The girl's Dad was not active but Cilicia knew a lot of stories in the Book of Mormon because Sister Ariki read with her everyday. Bright kid. The family served us barbecue for dinner.  

We had missionary correlation with Brother Tukukino.  The ward was on fire..haha.  Bro. Tukukino was on top of things.  He had a list of potential fellowshippers with previous religions, word-of-wisdom concerns, etc. so they could relate to our investigators.  He had a list of families who were willing to do Family Home Evening with our investigators, more than once a week.  Really big ward.  We shared the ward with ZL, used to be the APS ward, too..STL, ZL and AP, but now just two companionships.

Feb 17, Friday - Today, we had zone trip to see the big Book of Mormon in the city. We parked the car in front of City Branch and then took the train to meet the Zone in southern cross. 

The Mormon ads were replaced..think they gonna renew after 2 weeks because other corporations bought the space ads as well..oppositions!! ..But we still had the big BOM!



With the Narre Warren Sisters: Me, Sisters Percival Tafili, Manosig, Koroi, Tuu'u and Ligica

On our way back to the car, we got stuck at the train station for a while because the myki card of my companion did not work, so we recharged it, then tried again, still not working. We asked the officer who let us in, tried again on the other side and worked and she said "Well, I don't know what's wrong."  We ran to the parking lot and the police officer just passed by our car with a printed ticket, $78.  We told him what happened but he said that he printed the ticket already and told us to go online.  My first parking ticket!!!  GGGRrrr..Elder Hyde from the office said that he would help us make an appeal.  I'm not worried for the money but I don't want a record..huhuhu..that's fine though..hehehe..lesson learned.  The parking allowed only for 2 hours maximum so we couldn't put more time.

Because we were in the city, we had exchanges with North Melbourne Chinese Sisters.  I stayed in the city with Sister Fong, 6 days old in the mission, Chinese background but born in Utah.  My other companions, Sisters Manosig and Koroi, were with Sister Patchell. We had a lesson with Kim in the city branch, a student, baptized just last July and planning to serve a mission.  Good thing he had pretty good English and so we taught about prodigal son and repentance in English.  I also learned that they also had bread run every Friday but we were late to get to the shop; bread thrown already when we got there. We also had game nights in the city where they play games with investigators. Sister Fong was good with the trams and area in just 6 days even though she thought otherwise.  They were staying in the same flat that I stayed when I had exchanges with my STL last year..whew..so long ago..hahaha..
           Me, Sisters Koroi, Pratt, Manosig, Chen, Fong, and Patchell doing peace signs

Feb 18, Sat - We had English class in the morning.  Conan, an investigator, came and we taught him a lesson in Chinese afterwards,.  I learned few Chinese words - faith xinxin, repentance huigai.  It's amazing how during the lesson I know quite well what's going on and I was able to add my testimony as well.  Conan had good English, studying Masters in Linguistics and wanted to teach Chinese here in Australia.  He was willing to read and study the Book of Mormon and he had read Alma 32.  He said that he would be baptized when he knows it's true.  He prayed for the first time after the lesson.  Praying was one thing he was invited to do and now he prayed after three meetings. Miracle.  Then we did GQ in the city, really different to GQ Chinese people here in the city than in Sandy Bay, Tasmania.  I was excited to see sister Pratt coz we relate on the difference of GQ in both areas.

We then met Des, the Filipino met by my companions when I was on exchanges with Sister Paulo.  We shared the Plan of Salvation with her and she fed us dinner.  We also helped her packed things because she was moving.  She referred us to her Filipino friends and told us where they lived..so cool.

Feb 19, Sunday - Sister Manosig's birthday.  We had ward council in the morning and we were asked to bear our testimony during Sacrament meeting.  When the conducting priesthood introduced us as new missionaries, Sister Daroy and Sister Koroi,  I said that it's easy to remember "full of joy" and they laughed..hehe..We were asked to teach Sunday School youth, 12-13, and we shared about how the BOM answers questions of the soul.  We then taught the young women class about BOM and how to introduce it in different ways.

We met Ehsan briefly after church and shared the Word of Wisdom.  Ehsan was a miracle. From Islam, he gave up smoking and alcohol when Touraj, the recent convert, told him about the church.  When we told him that we also don't drink tea and coffee, he expressed his concerns that he drank tea every morning.  Then before we could speak, he said, "I can drink milk in the morning, is milk okay?" We were stunned..haha..concern solved.  He was excited for his baptism on Saturday, Feb 25.

We also met Ahmed later today when visiting formers. Ahmed is Muslim, too, but he talked to us.  He said he would read the Book of Mormon and we set a return appointment at 4:30 next Sunday.  When we invited him to church, he said, "Scratch the 4:30, I will come to church and we will discuss more about the Book of Mormon, is that okay?"  We were stunned as well.  He gave us his number to remind him.  He added that he had a lot of Christian discussions previously and wanted to learn more.  I thought that Muslims were difficult to teach but turned out that in this area, they were prepared.  The other Sisters during exchanges told us that they loved our area because people stop and talk to missionaries, unlike in the city.  This week had been really amazing.

We had dinner with with Samau Oeti family in their new house and we shared about the Book of Mormon.  The Tasmania Sisters called me about the miracles in Tasmania - Alice and Mason, the Terrys.  Mason read the BOM diligently and wanted to be baptized on Easter Day.  What a miracle!!..a family yeay..even though I would not be able to see them sealed, it's just awesome!

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