Week 35

Tarneit and Weribbee: Sept 5-11, 2016


Deer park and Wyndham zones in Memoriam Reserve Park, 

Sept 5, Monday - Had our Pday in Isabella Memoriam Reserve Park in Deer Park with 2 zones combined, the Deer Park and Wyndham zones and the Assistants; played sports and had bbq.

          L-R: Elder Alao, Elder Bennion, Elder Meyer (a Golden, 2 weeks out),

                                              Elder Banner (Meyer's trainer)

          Sister Fakahokatau, Sister Masi, Sister Paulo, Sister Lonitenisi (Golden, 2 weeks out),

                    Me, Elder Casil

                     L-R: Elder Jaropojop, Elder Olan, Elder Casil, Elder Rolfe

                  This is Elder Rolfe's last transfer and he's going home to Arizona.

After the sports, we dropped by Deer Park chapel.  The Elders played volleyball while we practiced hymns, also taught Sister Paulo some hymns.

Later today, we picked up the Tassie Sisters from the airport. At the airport, we met Bobby Singh from Toronto who was waiting for his ride.  When he knew that we are Mormons, he said that he always see the temple in Brampton.  He accepted pamphlets and Book of Mormon and said that he will definitely call the number so that missionaries can visit him in Toronto and would invite us to his baptism. He offered to treat us dinner if his ride would come but we told him that we needed to go. Hopefully, we would see him again, or maybe in Toronto. 

Sep 6, Tues - Exercise run with Tassie Sisters, Sisters Johnson and Tupu. Found these nice chairs by the road.

Slept in the mission home tonight for MLC tomorrow. Yeay, mission home!

        One of the many quilts Sister Vidmar made by herself.

            Sister Dulaki (new STL east) and Sister Tupu

             Me, Elder Poulson (behind), Sisters Larsen, Johnson, Edwards

                Some of the Zone Leaders

              So many shoes...so easy to spot mine..hehe..

           Sister Alao who would be going home tomorrow.

Sep 8, Thurs - After DLC, we went to see Joshua and helped him mow his lawn. It was tiring but fun as well and met his daughter.

Sep 9, Fri - Exercise and a run around a nearby park

              Sisters Paulo, Cruz, Solo, Baiamere, Me (Sister Solo's bday tomorrow)

We had our zone meeting and we gave a training about having a vision for the zone; we shared Moses 7 where Enoch received a vision, his faith and the building of Zion. We also had exchanges with the Craigieburn Sisters.

Sep 9, Fri - We met Arwin and the kids with Sister Tupou. Arwin's husband asked why they were in a hurry to be baptized. Arwin requested to move her baptism from Sep 17 to sometime October. She wanted her whole family to be there. She was really a good example to her kids and wanted them to grow up with the gospel.

I went with Sister Solo and Sister Cruz for exchanges while Sister Paulo went with Sister Baiamere.

Sep 10, Sat - We visited Yvonne with Sister Cruz and Sister Solo. She said that she would read the BOM again and pray to know the truth. She knew about Nephi and other prophets in the BOM, which was cool, only showed that she had read the BOM.

Sep 11, Sun - We taught tithing and fasting in Gospel Principles class, then we taught RS class about preserving and protecting families from Pres. Hunter's manual chap 17. We showed video clips and the RS sisters were very interactive and shared their experiences as well. We thought we were underqualified to teach because we were not mothers yet but ut was a great learning experience as well..hehe..

We visited Anna, the one who told us that we were false teachers. We taught her more about the BOM and Prophet Joseph Smith. We would meet her again Tuesday to share more and resolve more of her concerns.  

Then we had dinner with the Kwan-Wing family, after which, we had a great lesson about repentance and 'choose this day whom you will serve.'  The family also gave us names of their friends that they would invite on our next lesson with them.

The Griffith Sisters arrived last night. We would have exchanges on Tuesday and they would go back to Griffith on Wednesday.

Week 34

Tarneit and Weribbee: Aug 29 - Sept 4, 2016

Tracting, visiting. teaching and setting baptism dates..Arwin and kids for Sep 17, Anu for Sep 24, and Karen would pray for her baptism date.

Aug 29, Monday - Anu texted us that she would like to meet us today so we gave her a chapel tour and shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  She said it was easy to understand. She accepted our invitation to be baptized with the proper priesthood authority on Sept. 24. She was excited and even wanted to go tracting with us to teach people.

As we went back to the car, the stake had handcarts on the ground for the pioneer day so I thought it would be fun to try one..haha..It was heavy, not fun.  I am grateful for the faith, endurance and patience of the pioneers.

We had FHE with Nan and shared with her temple blessings using the Mormon message.  She was happy that we visited her today and sang her favorite hymn 'Families can be Together Forever'.  She served as a temple worker before so we invited her to the ward temple trip on Sept. 2.  We then visited Jenti and she told us that her husband, David, said 'no' to Jacob's baptism.  Jacob was sad because he wanted to be baptized, however, we were grateful that David allowed the family to come to church this time.  

Aug 30, Tuesday - Had District Meeting today, then visited Karen and shared with her the video Hope in God's Light and the Patterns of Light series of Elder Bednar. 

Photo (Right): Elder Casil (DL) made this yum dessert


Then we had dinner with Nan. She made fried bread, a NZ delicacy, and sold them to support her grandson, Elder Hira, who was serving in New Zealand.  

We also visited Donna Vai with her kids Lehi, Malu and Richard.  We shared with them about the body as a temple and how to take care of it physically (Word of Wisdom) and spiritually. We then visited the Henare family and shared Mosiah 24:15, how the Lord will strengthen us if we submit to his will cheerfully and with patience. In that verse, the Lord didn't remove the burden but with added strength, we can bear our burdens with ease. The family gave us fruits as we were leaving.

Aug 31, Wednesday - Today, we did a lot of visiting formers and tracting. We met a few who were interested to learn and wanted us to come back. We got to talk to Kelly when she was getting mail from her mailbox.  She was happy to share her experiences but not ready to accept the gospel.  We unselfishly lent a listening ear.  We also visited the Vini family and taught their close friend, Doris, about the Restoration.  Doris was grateful she met us and learned teachings about prophets and priesthood. She said she would visit the church.

Sep 1, Thursday - Today we shared a lesson with Karen in the Mission Home with Pres. and Sis. Vidmar.  Karen was a big fan of gymnastics.  They talked about gymnastics, some names and things they knew well, that we don't know.  We felt left out..haha..We then shared the Restoration video and shared more about how God answers prayers. We found out that Sis Vidmar and Karen both love football.  Karen could relate to the conversion story of Sis. Vidmar.  We invited her to pray for a specific date of her baptism.  

Elder Vidmar, Karen, Sister Vidmar with Elder Vidmar's Olympic gold and silver medals

With Karen on the grounds of  Australia Melbourne Temple

We then visited Arwin and the kids. Lorraine was also there. We shared the Word of Wisdom with them which was well received. They were willing to live the WoW. We extended a baptismal date to Sep 17 and they accepted.  

We also visited Anna Crockers, finally got her.  She had been reading the Bible but refused the Book of Mormon.  We would meet her again after church.

Sep 2, Friday - We visited Lloyd and Rachel who led the lesson about Tithing and Word of Wisdom. They accepted our invitation to join the Ward 40 Day Fasting and they accepted. We visited Ian who shared that he finally got a job after 9 months of searching.  He needed a ride to church and so we asked Bro Court, who was also willing to have him.

We then had exchanges with Sunshine Sisters.  I was with Sister Masi back in Tarneit while Sister Paulo joined Sister Fakahokatau and Sister Lonitenisi in Sunshine area.

Sister Masi, Me, Sister Lonitenisi, Sister Paulo, Sister Fakahokatau

Sep 3, Saturday - We met the Delaney kids. Cassandra was busy and told us to come back next time.  The kids, cheerful and friendly, were playing outside.

Dac, Crenshaw, Elahzaye, Me, Sister Paulo

Sep 4, Sunday - Arwin with the kids and Karen came to church.  Bro. Fuatimau gave lesson on Priesthood during Gospel Principle Class.  During RS class, Karen can't stop crying.  The lesson was about how God helps us fulfill our divine roles. We felt Karen's spirit and excited about her.  Karen and Arwin had also become friends.








Noah, Daniel and Jacob were in church in their suits.










Practicing a musical item, Elder Bennion was happy to play the piano for us.  Elder Togia was put on the spot to join the singing, while I was filming..haha..They sang 'Joseph's First Prayer' in the tune of 'Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.'

MORE PHOTOS

Week 33

Tarneit and Werribee: Aug 22 - 28, 2016

Love and bye to all those going home, excitement for those transferring, bringing stuff to sisters in far areas, tracting and teaching, and welcoming the Goldens!

Aug 22, Mon - Zone early morning hike at You-Yangs Regional Park. This park is 28 kms. away from our house, reminded me of Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada.  When we reached the top, we climbed another 3.5 kms of granite steps to get to Flinder's Peak. We saw the beautiful sunrise and kangaroos were everywhere!  It was amazing!

L-R: Elder Lungu from Maldova, Elder Motoapuaka, Elder Casil, Sis Paulo..we're halfway!

Below - the Elders in their "Siga Pose"

L-R: Elder Togia (new ZL), Elder Faanunu (Golden from Tonga), Elder Johnstone fron NZ, Elder Motoapuaka, Elder (I forgot)

         Zone picture

The Elders played rugby while we took photos.  During the devotional, departing missionaries, Elder Sellers and Elder Kaanapu, and those getting transferred, Elder Iese and Elder Carey, bore their testimonies.

From the park, we went back home for our usual e-mails, grocery, cleaning of car and visiting a family, this time, Jenti and her kids.

Aug 23, Tues - We drove to the mission office and asked Elder Linder for a trailer while Elder Christensen (departing) hooked it to the car. My first time driving with a trailer so Elder Linder advised me to estimate for the trailer as well in changing lanes. Elder Sifuentes, Elder Casil and Elder Eustaquio helped us load the luggage in the trailer.

Elder Sifuentes, Elder Casil and Elder Eustaquio

Sister Tupu (STL East) was so excited to finally be assigned to Tasmania.  Sister Larsen (STL Tas) would go back to Chinese program when Sister Lee would go home. Sister Dulaki would be the new STL in the East.  While waiting for the other Sisters, we helped Elder Concardas with his luggage.  An LDS who worked in a chocolate factory gave him 6 kg of Kitkat (many varieties).  He couldn't carry them all so I ate some, hehe.. Time was so fast. I feel like I was just here helping Sister Wairepo with her stuff last transfer.  I could see Sister Tupu diligently drove the Sisters to the office with her companion Sister Teripaia, prolly 6 trips using the AP van. They laughed at the trailer hooked to the car..haha.. I told Sister Teripaia she would drive a trailer one day.

Me and Sister Tupu

Helping Elder Concardas pack and eat his chocolates

Sister Salyer, Calif., Sister Lee, Utah (both going home); Sister Cagumbal, Sister Paulo, Sister Manosig, Sister Wora Anu, and Me

We then drove Sister Aitu, Sister Mendoza and Sister Manosig to Footscray; then to Griffith with Sister Nepia and Sister Aitu.  In one of our stops for petrol, Steve, the owner of a small Caltex, accepted a Restoration pamphlet.  We arrived in Griffith after 6 hours of driving.

The conversion story of Sister Aitu from Tonga was amazing. She met the missionaries through her cousin, read the Book of Mormon and gained a testimony.  Her family disowned her when she joined the church, was hit by relatives and locked up in the house.  She would sneak out of the house to join Institute and church activities.  As a missionary, she regularly sent letters to family even though she received none. She had been out for 3 months and trained by Sister Mendoza.  We got her email address (moui.aitu@myldsmail.net) so we could send her letters.  On the other hand, Sister Manosig, the 12th among 13 siblings, is the 12th missionary of the family.  How cool is that!  The Manosig family is featured in the LDS Newsroom.

Aug 24, Wed - We woke up at around 4 am, put all the stuff in the trailer including 2 bikes. Around 6 am, we filled our petrol; a driver advised us to slow down because he saw lots of kangaroos, usually they were out hopping at dawn. We thanked him and drove. We had our breakfast at the Big Strawberry. Darren, the owner, cooked us breakfast. He recognized our name tags and excitedly told us that he had lots of LDS friends in Utah.  

Week 32

Tarneit and Werribee: Aug 15-21, 2016

Bounce, Arwin and Karen's baptismal goal on Sep 3, the car incident, tracting, meeting formers and members, the good samaritan of the jump-start kit, exchanges, the big transfer news!

Aug 15, Monday - Prep-Day: The Craigie ZLs invited us to join their Pday so the Sisters could get a ride and join the activity. We did our emails at Craigieburn Library, then drove to Bounce, a trampoline place. The higher you fall, the harder you bounce. The Elders loved the trampoline, they jumped for 3 hours; me and my comp jumped only for an hour. 

Waiting for our turn to bounce.

On the way to drive the Craigie Sisters to their flat..saw this wonderful view!

When we got back to our area, we went straight to Arwin's place, changed to proselyting clothes just behind the boot..haha..felt like we were agents. We shared the Resoration cups with Arwin and two of his young sons. Arwin was keen, told us she never knew about these things before, and would bring her kids to church on Sunday. She wasn't able to come to church because she hurt herself and her foot was swollen. Her baptismal date was moved to Sep 3rd.

My comp got colds, my fault..hehe..we didn't go to Jenti because we didn't want the kids to get sick, too.

Aug 16, Tues - We had District Meeting today and I was asked to give a training about Teaching in the Savior's Way. After DM, we we drove right away to the Heidelberg Stake Center for the Craigieburn/Heidelberg Zone Conference. We arrived just in time for lunch..haha.they just finished singing Called to Serve and headed back to the trainings while we stayed to eat..lots of food, Islander feast. We talked to the RS sisters who prepared the food, they also have sons and daughters who would be serving missions or were serving or served. We then joined the training - helped the Craigie Sisters in role playing, heard Elder Concardas (departing missionary) bore his testimony, met Sisters Santos and Nepia, Murphy and Aalto, and Pres and Sister Vidmar were fun to be with.

We then visited two referrals - Zabin but no one open the door (probably, not home) and Kevin, but not living there anymore. My comp suggested we visit Arlene and she invited us in. We shared the Resotration cups and they loved it, they said it was easy to understand. When we invited them to church, Werrick said he knew where it is, described it as the big church with beautifully mowed lawn. He said the family loved having us over.

We then drove to Sunbury for exchange; I paired with Sister Wora Anu and drove back to Werribee. On our way, she shared her struggles, to which I could also relate when I was not yet STL.

Aug 17, Wed - On missionary exchange, Me and Sister Wora Anu. 

After companionship study, we visited Rishna, been a long time we had not seen her. She was baptized in another church but still accepted our lesson; we showed her the Restoration video and read with her the testimony of Joseph Smith. She said she finally got rid of her Hindu idols, wanted to learn more about the revelations received by Joseph Smith, but could not yet grasp the importance of authority that differentiates a true church from one which is not. I know that she was being prepared and someday her eyes would be opened.

We then visited few referrals, then Karen and Nisi. We taught the Word of Wisdom and it was well received, moved her baptism day to Sep 3rd.

On our way to Werribee from Tarneit, quite a busy street, a car turning right almost collided with us on the intersection, later I proceeded slowly after allowing the 2 cars to clear the intersection, and a biker crossed the street. I did not see another biker coming, hit the kid then a pedestrian and Sister Wora Anu helped him up. I parked the car, asked the kid if he was okay but he did not speak and hurriedly joined his brother waiting across the street. I was shaking and we both said a prayer. Then we both some food, ate in the car and rehearsed what happened. We then met Rachelle and Judy, they shared the lessons on Laws of Chastity and Tithing.

We then called Elder Linder, told him about the incident and asked if we're okay physically and emotionally; I told him physically okay but a bit unstable emotionally. He asked us to take photos of the place of the incident, fill up report and write separate statements just in case someone reported the incident. After the call, we visited Jenti and the kids -read Noah's ark to Daniel and sang I am a child of God with him and helped Jenti cleaned the house. 

Back to the apartment, we had exchange review and finished the reports. Sister Wora Anu said she enjoyed her day because she was part of the planning, unity in teaching and was involved. She asked if she could speak to President and so I called President, and he asked us if we were okay.

Sister Paulo could not believe we had an accident because she said I'm a safe driver, even Sister Falani said that I was a patient and safe driver, but accidents happen. I learned my lesson to be extra careful. 

Aug 18, Thurs - We went back to the place of incident, took photos and printed them, then proceeded to our DLC at 11 am. After DLC, we did our weekly planning using a new planner for next week. We then visited Joshua at 5pm with Vivian, then to Bro. Brown for the correlation meeting, dinner and shared about trust in God. (We invited Karen and George but neither could make it.) We also visited Aniv & File, Sam & Nikki, shared about the Priesthood and watched Sanctify Yourselves video. They fed us BBQ chicken, second dinner, I was so full but they kept putting more on my plate saying I needed to gain more weight.

Aug 19, Fri - Tracting with Sister Paulo on a rainy day, saw this big ladybug.  

Two of our appointments were cancelled so we tracted Archie St. and Evadene St. with our umbrella, met two rude people and also found people who wanted us to come back after 7pm. We met with Zophrynia and taught her the gospel of Jesus Christ using the diagram, she had a headache but she stayed and listened. After a hard day's work, we rewarded ourselves with soft cones.

Then we went to the BBQ activity, the ward conference weekend. We called Jenti who wanted to come but needed a ride, so we asked Sis. Ana Samasepa who was also willing. The activity was fun.

Aug 20, Sat - We checked the ward list which listed three LDS and two formers on Hamish Drive so we knocked on doors 12-120 with our car parked in their garage. At house 120, Harley said, Hi Sisters, did Norman sent you? We replied No, then his partner said, maybe your mom, they did not believe that no one sent us. Harley was not active but his mom was; he gave us soda drinks, now we have a million soda in our cupboard. We continued to visit people in the ward list and formers. As we were about to leave, the car won't start and i suspected we needed to jump start. We asked one guy but said that he needed the jump-starter kit, asked the neighbors but they didn't have one. Then the visitor of the former that we just visited came and said that he had it. Good Samaritan.

Aug. 21, Sun - Philip came to church in his white shirt with Sister Akesa a step towards Philip's baptism.

We visited Arlene but she was very busy and could not sit down for a lesson so we offered a prayer. We then had dinner with the Tupou family, butter chicken and coco bread, realy good. We shared with them Will of God and Continue in Patience mormon messages. We then went home and planned for the transfer. 

Pretty big transfer!