Week 13

Footscray: April 4-10, 2016

Can you make a cross from a piece of paper by doing only one straight tear?

Brother Lucon Foster gave the object lesson, then shared the story of the journey of Lehi and family from Jerusalem to the Americas. Then after tearing it once and making the cross, he shared the atonement of Jesus Christ.

Then we played games and enjoyed the food that the Delos Santos family prepared for us. There was a game in which whoever rolled the 4 and 6 dice will need to wear cap, scarf, gloves and use fork and knife to eat the chocolate.

Present during this cottage meeting were: (back row) Uncle Bob, Stephen, Lauren Barnes. Bro. & Sis Phillips, Adam; (middle) Delos Santos family; (front row) Sister Daroy, Sister Santos and Brother Foster.

Mini zone conference with the Mission President.  President Maxwell emphasized the importance of striving to be exactly obedient.  After the conference and while waiting for our turn to be interviewed, Sister Maxwell introduced the PMG jeopardy game.  There were 2 teams against our companions who should complete the statements from the Preach My Gospel handbook.  My team lost by 10 points but it was still fun because we learned a lot and we definitely should reread the handbook.  We then had role plays with the assistants each companion.  I roleplayed with Elder Eyring (grandson of Elder Henry B. Eyring) giving importance to the steps - Teach, Testify, Invite, Promise Blessings, Follow up. 

After the zone interview, we joined the Relief Society Sisters (Sister Lauren and Sister Rasmussen) for temple trip.

On other days, we visited Debbie, Stephen, Leha family, Hanley family and Tishna. Brother Glen from Melton Ward remembered that Debbie's daughter, Nicole, was already baptized. Debbie wants to be baptized, too, just in case she has no baptismal records.  About Stephen, we taught him about the priesthood.  He shared his testimony and is now on Helaman 4 of the Book of Mormon.  

We visited the Leha family as part of our "Zone Game Changer".  I saw them during my first Sunday with Footscray Ward, then no more.  When we got to their place, we saw the kids playing outside the house, then we knocked at their door.  Sister Rebecca opened the door and her husband invited us in.  We learned that Sister Rebecca was a novelist (pen name was Belle Hale) and she gave us a free signed copy of her published book.  We shared a short message with their family and Brother Leha shared his testimony.  He said that they always prayed as a family and that he needed to set priorities so they can come to church.  I was thankful to my companion who persisted so we were able to share a message.

On Saturday, before the morning session of General Conference, we first met with the Zone Leaders about our area, the area book, the challenges and the success stories. Then we went to Debbie's place to ask her to come to Gen Con but she was not home.  Tishna lived across Debbie's place and so we asked her to come.  She said to call her at 12 noon to confirm if she's coming.  She did join us during BBQ lunch and the afternoon session.   

                                         

Sister Santos, Tishna, Sister Daroy

Uncle Bob, Sister Daroy, Sister Santos, Stephen

Tishna, Sister Daroy, Jennifer, Sister Santos

The Sunday General Conference:  Stephen, Adam and Tishna came.  They said they loved the conference except for Adam who left earlier in the morning session because he did not like to listen if the remaining messages were about families or fatherhood.  He said it's painful for him because he did not have a perfect family.  He said he would come back for classes but there were no classes.

President Thomas Monson's message: "May we choose to build within ourselves a great and powerful faith which will be our most effective defense against the designs of the adversary."

Elder Jeffrey Holland concluded the afternoon session of the General Conference with his message "Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you."  Earlier, he made light comments that he was the only one standing between the members and the ice cream. 

We did have ice cream brought by one of the members.

Sister Aileen Newlassie brought homemade ice cream, Mango and Nutella flavor, chocolate cake and delicious meatballs.  She and her husband loved to cook.

  

MORE PHOTOS (P-DAY):

Sister Manosig. Sister Daroy, Sister Paulo, Sister Santos, Sister Tuhod

Week 12

Footscray: March 28 - April 3, 2016

The Savior provides His gospel as a Light to guide those who choose to believe and follow Him.

This week's preparation day, Sister Santos and I had the company of the Latrobe Sisters, Sister Wora Anu and Sister Tuhod, and we refreshed ourselves with nature at the Botanical Garden and the Pier. This P-Day happened to be Easter Monday holiday in Australia.

In this pier, there are seaplane exhibitions and ferry tours.

March 29: Met with Tisna whom we found last Sunday while tracting.  She opened the door and let us in immediately, quite surprising. 

She said she had been investigating a few churches but has not really found what she was looking for.  She accepted our invitation to come to church.  She has 2 kids, Ariel (17) and Miriam (11) but were not home when we came.  Across Tisna's house is Debbie's house but she's not home.

We also visited Wilma to follow-up on her preparations for baptism.  She said she is happy and excited but she didn't have her husband's consent.  Her husband allowed her to continue to come to church but without the kids. Nyageith was sad because she loved to come to church.  We invited her to fast and pray about her baptism and to soften her husband's heart.  

March 30-31: We met Adam and shared about Keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  He said he enjoyed church, agreed with the teachings but bothered that he still lacked belief in God. We shared some scripture and bore our testimony. We reset his baptism to April 16.

April 1-2: We visited Wilma but she still doesn't have her husband's consent.  She said she fasted and prayed and that amazed me. We reset her baptism to April 16.  Nyageith, even though she's still 6, always brought along her Book of Mormon even if she can't read yet. We read with her and she always prayed before the lesson with our help.  

The Delos Santos family treated us with Sister Nessa's shrimp recipe - shrimp boiled in Sprite, sauteed in butter and garlic, then simmered in tomato paste. Really good.

April 3: Adam came to church today.  Bro. Ammon Wilkes taught Atonement in Gospel Principles class. Later, Sister Rawenata, YW President, gave us a ride to Heidelberg Chapel to watch the General Women's Broadcast. (Sister Rawenata loved to snowboard and had been to Vancouver, Japan, etc. to snowboard.)

General Women's Broadcast: I like how the speakers focused on Service.  I also liked the quote by Sister Neill Marriott, "Love is making space in your life for someone else."

MORE PHOTOS:

Week 11

Footscray: March 21-27, 2016

Our daily Quote:  No missionary effort is wasted.

March 21: P-day, saying hello to our families and friends through a one-hour computer use at the Footscray Library.  Thank you for all the inspiring emails and messages. (norre.daroy@myldsmail.net)

March 22: Our District Meeting where we shared experiences and scriptures to edify one another, and evaluated where we are in our goals. 

Then we visited Martha and the Fitton's.   We had been to the Fitton's three times where either no one was home or we were told to come back another time. Finally, we met Lina and her daughter, Crystal, who were LDS but had not been in church for more than 15 years.  Crystal was very active in YW and still remembered the primary song "I am a Child of God."  Lina went back to Catholic Church but wanted us to invite and encourage Crystal to come to Church because she remembered how her daughter loved the Church before.

We also tried to visit a referral from church - George Ellis.  Before, we got lost riding the tram; now we have the car and GPS but we can't find a parking spot.  We'll try again next time.

March 23: An exciting day!   With my temple clothing with me, we left our place at about 9am, drove for about hour, and attended the 11am session.  The temple session was so great and we wanted to stay longer but we needed to go back to our area immediately according to our DLs.

Mission office across the Temple

March 24: Visited Bro. Leatitagaloa, ward mission leader, and Adam, an investigator. Remember Adam who wanted to have a personal relationship with Heavenly Father?  Bro L and wife, Leanne, were a great help with the lessons with Adam.  Adam made much progress and preparing for baptism on April 2nd.  Great news!!!

Then we drove to car service center for full service per office instruction.  We went to the home of Tumai family but only the daughter was home; since we couldn't come into the house if the parents are not home, we proceeded to the chapel and joined the Relief Society's Sister Swap Shop.  Sisters brought something they don't need for other sisters to have. They also brought candy bars for a game. Each sister picked a number to determine the sequence of introducing oneself, after saying something, would get or steal someone else's candy bar. I got #18 while my companion got #11. She tried to snatch my number and when Sister Rasmussen (RS president) saw her, she gave her a nickname - Sister Feisty. Fun afternoon!

Sister Rasmussen trying to steal a candy bar..

March 25: Visited Wilma who was preparing African bread for some visitors. Looks like lumpia wrapper. We tried to help but I think we messed her up...haha..She took a video of us. Wilma was scheduled to be baptized the next day but since we had not met her last week, we moved her baptism to April 2, same as Adam's.

We also visited the Batshon family - mom is the only LDS with 11 kids.  We were tracting in the area and when our appointments were cancelled, we dropped by the Batshon.  This time, Colette, 19 years old, opened the door.  She didn't live in this place anymore and was only visiting. Colette met missionaries when she was 9 but was not interested.  Colette said she wanted to be baptized but going to Thailand and wasn't sure when she's coming back yet.   On our way home from the Batshon, we met Debbie on the street.  She said she was LDS (but not on our members list) and she agreed for a visit tomorrow. 

March 26: Mario called us if we can visit him and bring along some Easter pass along cards. Mario was a new convert and very active with missionary work.  It was raining when we drove home around 8 pm.  I didn't really like driving in the rain especially at night, grateful we arrived home safe.

March 27, Easter Sunday: Sacrament meeting talks were inspiring, as always.  Marcus, the YM president, and wife, Melanie (non-LDS), and Matthew (Melanie's brother, non-LDS) came to Sacrament Meeting - a surprise!  Matthew was on vacation from Toronto; both Melanie and Matthew were not yet open to the gospel, would read the BOM but not pray about it; said they enjoyed the talks and music but left after Sacrament Meeting.  At least, they came!  We are happy to have them!

With the De Los Santos family, the ZLs, and our Easter eggs..

In the evening, the Easter Musical Missionary Devotional at Heidelberg Chapel highlighted the ministry and life of the Saviour and his resurrection. Adam, Bob and Stephen came. Adam got the chance to talk to President Maxwell who explained to him well the importance of the gospel. 

I met Jake who said he would be going to Sydney and be back in June, Filipino missionaries, and missionaries (same intake) - Manosig, Caguimbal, Lamni, and Tripee (waiting for her visa to SLC Temple Square Mission).  The Latrobe Sisters (Sister Tuhod and Sister Wora Anu) attended the Devotional but they couldn't make it back home so they would spend the night in our flat, according to the STLs and ZLs. We left the chapel at 9pm and glad it was a smooth drive back home. ^_^  Its really important to clean the flat always, not because of surprise visitors but because the Spirit will strive in clean places..haha..

A Tongan family bought us a-$100 worth of Filipino groceries.  This family had a daughter serving in Sydney Mission for the moment.  Thank you very much!