Week 54

Launceston, Tasmania: Jan 16 - 22, 2017

The Plan of Salvation, Restoration, The Book of Mormon, Priesthood Authority

Jan 16, Monday - Met a guy, Mark, his grandkid and their dog walking to the shops.  We said "Hi" and they stopped and said, "Hey, I remember you."  Turned out that we talked to him weeks ago who belonged to the Apostolic church.  It's interesting how people do recognize and remember meeting the missionaries even though we didn't recognize them immediately. Then we had dinner with the Kauwhata with their friend Adrian, non-LDS, Jamaican, and staying with them for the holidays.  He didn't stay with us for the message but he used to meet with missionaries in New South Wales when he was with his family.

Jan 17, Tuesday - We met Mark again and this time, he was driving his truck and waved at us.  Today, we did service at the Vinens. We helped them wash their walls because they were preparing their house to sell. We met Narene and shared the Restoration with her. She accepted a copy of the Book of Mormon to read and set appointment this Tuesday.  We had dinner with Sister Roser who invited Bro. Allan.  Allan joined the church when he was 18 and served a mission in Salt Lake City; now probably mid 50's.

Jan 18, Wed - We helped Sister Baldock organize the library and she gave us ham and cheese scones for lunch.  We head home and did "one more" goal for this transfer - stopped at one house and saw 2 people smoking outside.  They told us that they were not interested but they have a grandkid, Brandon, who grew up religious so we could come back another time when he is home.  We also did former finding today and tracting around their streets as well.

Jan 19, Thurs -  District Meeting today. We role played about teaching investigators to recognize the Holy Ghost, that God is our loving Heavenly Father, and about the Savior's earthly ministry.  We also shared a discussion with Paul and Jackie and read the pamphlet about baptism and baptismal covenants.Then dinner with Jackie with lasagna and slinky apples. We then went to the Tripptrees because I had this prompting the whole day but which I kept dismissing because they were a 'hit and miss' visit. But when we knocked on their door, they were home and let us in and we shared Alma 37:46-47, "Look to God and Live". They shared they wanted to come back to church to strengthen their families.  They had 2 daughters serving whom they thought would not take the calling while those whom they expected to serve left the church. They also showed us the wedding photos of Monique who got married last week by Bishop. It was a very spiritual night with this family.

Jan 20, Friday - It was raining hard and very windy.  We visited Brandon who grew up with religious background, but he did not really think about it. We shared about the Restoration and his comments were fair enough to our invitation to read, ponder and pray about the Book of Mormon.  He responded that he would read and pray and set return appointment for Tuesday.  We also met Carma and shared about faith and repentance.  She understood Faith really well.  As we were about to offer the closing prayer, her brother, Tehring, walked into the room and told us that they are Buddhists and that learning about Christianity make them sick, then he walked out of the room. Carma said that we can still offer the closing prayer.  She said she was busy working on Sundays. Then we went to Bishop, had dinner and mini correlation meeting while waiting for a new ward mission leader to be called.

Jan 21, Sat - We helped clean the chapel today.  We also met with Alice and Mason and had a wonderful discussion about the Plan of Salvation.  We extended a baptism date with Mason, he responded that he was already baptized and so we explained about priesthood authority.  He asked about the process of baptism and we told him that they needed to be married, then develop a testimony of the restored gospel and the Book of Mormon.  They said they would go to church tomorrow.  

We followed up on new contact Shari.  My comp said that she was not home but when we did one more knock...she was home! She invited us in and we shared about Restoration.  It was really cool.  We found out her concern about trinity and we got a return appointment on Tuesday.  We scheduled appointments on Tuesday due to the exchanges with Glen Huon Sisters using our area as the model area.  We also met Namay, wife of Padam; found out they were sick, that's why they were not able to come to church.  Namay still invited us in even though she was a bit sick.  Padam was at work. 

Jan 22, Sunday - We fasted and prayed again this Sunday.  We met Margaret, our new contact last week.  She invited us in and we shared about the Plan of Salvation.  She liked it and hoped that it is true.  She's 90 and belonged to the Church of Christ, said that she would listen to the messages but too late to change and would not go to the LDS church. Fair enough, we told her that we would share the Restoration next week, she may or may not accept it, at least, had the opportunity to hear about it. She survived bladder cancer and skin cancer (on the head).  It made us think that we should wear hats or use umbrellas because skin scalp cancer is common..whooo scary.  Then we were also able to meet Peggy and the Thomas family.  David came to church today, Justine boyfriend.

Sad news - David in Georgetown passed away last week. It was weird that he did not return our calls.  We were trying to get hold of him because the ward finally organized a team to help put up his shed.  His Dad returned our call and told us the sad news.  They found his body on Friday, 13th, the 3rd day after he died.  His Dad said that he would inform us of the funeral details to be held in Devonport.  Jackie said that we helped David prepare for the spirit world and that he was passed on to the missionaries on the other side.

Week 53

Launceston, Tasmania: January 9-15, 2017

On Faith: Understand the principle, Live the principle, Teach the Principle.

Jan 9, Monday - Sisters' P-day at Tahune Airwalk in Glen Huon.  Watch out for the swinging or suspension bridge, the wishing tree, and the amazing TAS Sisters - Me, Pratt, Burden, Ihaka, Li and Murphy (in 2nd photo).

Jan 10, Tuesday - We had interviews today.  Sister Vidmar was quilting for her 1st grandkid.

After the interviews, we had exchanges with the Sandy Bay Sisters. I was with Sister Li and we GQed in Sandy Bay. One resident had water for the dogs while water for people was by the doorstep...good samaritan for minding dogs and people on a very hot day like today.

We shared the Plan of Salvation with Luceil. She was a bit interested but can't focus because she was preparing for her English test. She asked us to help her with her English listening skills and so we did. She accepted to read the Book of Mormon to help her with her studies.

Chinese Sisters didn't do tracting but we tracted a house where Sister Li saw some Chinese. Indeed, there were Chinese students and we shared about Jesus Christ. They gave us their numbers so we could set up a time to meet them. (Realized my Chinese skills had not improved a bit.) Then we traveled back to Launceston.  

Jan 11, Wed - We were visiting a former when we saw the McPartlins.  Malachi said 'it's the Sisters'..haha..so cute. Turned out that Sister Haley's mom lived right next to Narene, the former. We also found that they knew Narene, fasted and prayed for her, and that her grandkid passed away recently. Narene was not home so we would come back another time.

We stopped by Michael and he invited us in but we had no member with us so we shared the Plan of Salvation outside his house.  He said he liked the POS but did not want to come to church because of social anxiety issues.  We would come again and planned to bring a member so Michael would feel comfortable.

We met Kerren and shared about the importance of partaking the sacrament, then we also tracted around Ravenswood and met a few new contacts.

We then drove to Deloraine for the Stake Mission Council Meeting, SMCM. We talked about the Ward Mission Plans and Stake goals for 2017 with the Stake Presidency and President Vidmar over Skype.

Jan 12, Thurs - Today we had District meeting and I gave a training about Faith - Understand the Principle, Live the Principle and Teach the Principle, that if we understand the principle, then we live it and teach it.  

We visited Paul and Jackie with Jackie's grandson, Connor, from Melbourne.  We talked about the Nephi and the three Nephites.  Connor's interest was stirred when he learned about Nephi who showed powers at certain times over his brothers. We also talked about Faith and Repentance using the pamphlet, which we learned later that Connor took with him back to Melbourne.

We tracted around Newnham today and found some new contacts, then we attended Ward Council.  The ward aimed for 15 baptisms this year, a number which would either discourage or inspire members.  If we want to achieve this goal, we would need to work with members more to engage them in missionary work.

Jan 13, Friday - Did weekly planning today then out to visit some people.  We shared the Plan of Redemption with Bev and Alma 37:35-37 with Rebecca and her kid,  Abbey.  Miracle to get hold of Rebecca.  The missionaries had been trying to visit her but she was always busy with her Dad in the hospital.  Her Dad died last week and she was grieving but she let us in.  Abbey said she missed church and wanted to come back to learn more.  She identified the principle of prayer in Alma 37:35-37 even if the word 'pray' was not mentioned at all..so cool.  We meet Robert, Rebecca's husband, non-LDS.  He asked to be taught by missionaries years ago but was upset when he felt he was pushed for baptism.  He talked to us a bit then we said a prayer.  Rebecca said she would come back to church but still busy working for the papers of her deceased Dad. She said we could visit her again though she did not commit for a return appointment.

We had two families, Baba and Saha and brother Padam and Namay. They came on Sunday and the baptismal service but didn't understand the speakers. Language barrier. We visited them again, Bro. Peri came with us and shared an awesome lesson. Padam said that he would keep coming to church until he could understand. T.T. so much spirit this family. Despite the language barrier, the presence of a church member made the difference. Babi and Saha loved the church experience but hardly understood what was being said during Sacrament Meeting.  We explained the Priesthood and authority in many different ways and analogies but couldn't understand anything.

Jan 14, Sat - Bread Run today. Days ago we met Sheldon.  He was painting his trailer when we parked and got off the car. We said "Hi" to him and he said, "I am a member, come teach my family.  I have 15y.o. son and my wife is kind of against the church, but we can study together." So we gave him bread today and confirmed our appointment with him the following week.  He knew the Wheeler family and so we planned to invite the Wheelers.  His name was not in our copy of ward list but when we printed a new one, we found his name.

Jan 15, Sunday - Today was Mason and Alice baby Mali blessing. Kino came to church with his daughter, Sarah (8). They did not stay for classes but we got a return appointment with Kino which was good. We fasted today.  We are doing Fast and Four Yous for four Sundays this January for 4 solid investigators we were working with. Zone goal: 4.

                                                                                                 

Week 52

Launceston, Tasmania: Jan. 2-8, 2017

MLC in Melbourne, missionaries on their last transfer, harvesting raspberries, finding Kim and Victoria, fasted on Sunday for miracles - indeed 7 investigators came and a sister who did not want to be contacted 

showed up in church!

Jan 2, Monday - It's that time of the month again. Flew to Melbourne, flight was not cancelled this time but the Elders were delayed. We waited at the airport from 6-9 pm. While waiting, I suggested that we pretend to charge our phone and it would be a conversation starter for the person also charging his/her phone. As we were looking for an outlet, we spotted an older lady sitting alone in one of the cafes. I sat next to her while Sister Burden bumped into all the chairs which sparked a conversation with her. I thought she did it on purpose haha and I still praised her for her excellent GQ skills for starting a conversation. hahaha. Talked to this lady and she said that she met missionaries before when she lived in Hobart. She said that she was more spiritual when she was not in any religion. Her husband was atheist and later said 'Hi' to us. They were also waiting for their grandkids on the same delayed flight.  An Iranian family joined us as well when we noticed this cute little boy walking around. We gave the Iranian couple a Search Card and they were pretty excited about it. The older couple accepted a card and said that they might check the website.

 We tried these on the plane then took the shirts off afterwards.

We decided to meet the Assistants in the car park already and waited for the Tasmania ZLs in the car.  We got to the mission home at 10:45 pm.

10:45 pm: our dinner.  Sister Vidmar baked these cookies for the MLC tomorrow and we ate some before we went to bed.

Jan 3, Tuesday - MLC in the mission home. One of the changes discussed during MLC was the process of exchanges which should be done in the leaders area.  the leaders area should be a model area for missionaries to follow...a pressure on our part as leaders..

Cafe Rio - sweet pork for lunch

Top photo: With new STL on the east side, Sister Manosig; Bottom half: new STL in the City, Sister Roberts in gray cardigan.  This would be the last transfer and last MLC of Sisters Paulo, Johnson and Roberts.  We will surely miss them.

These elders are the same intake with Sisters Johnson and Paulo.  Now they have 6 months to go and might go home same time with us.

Flying back to Launceston

Jan 4, Wed - We did service by helping pick raspberries with the Deloraine Elders' investigator, Kathryn. While helping Kathryn, we asked and talked about 'where we come from, why we are here, and where we are going.' She didn't believe in life after death but believed that our soul after death would join with the energy of the trees and the surroundings.  It was weird but she was nice to us.

We were excited to pick the raspberries until we were told to watch for snakes.  If we see snakes, just leave them alone.  if we mind our own business, the snakes would leave us alone. 

When all was done, we received 4 containers each.

Later in the day, we visited a former in Trevallyn.  As we got off the car, we recognized the house where we previously knocked because someone from the ward list lived here.  We proceeded to knock in nearby houses, the last one was interesting.  The lady who opened the door said, "Hey Sisters, you found me!"  It turned out that she was LDS, Kim, and she had a daughter, Victoria.  They stopped coming to church because Victoria has cerebral palsy and she had a hard time differentiating between reality and fantasy, sometimes she would see zombies trying to eat her.  We talked about prayers and scripture reading.  Kim showed us her quad.  We invited her to read the Book of Mormon and pray always.  As we checked the ward list, we saw her name with note 'moved', so now we could update it with her new address.

Jan 5, Thursday - We had District Meeting today and it was great.  We announced some of the reminders from the MLC which included not having zone meetings anymore.  We also met Paul and Jackie today and we talked more about the book of Ether.  Paul also gave us cheesecake which her mom, Rosanne, made.  

We visited a former investigator where we met Sandhaya 10. She's from Bhutan and been living in Tasmania for 4 years now.  She spoke good English so we mostly talk to her while her mom and grandpa listened to us.  We drew the Gospel of Jesus Christ to her.  She told us that they have 3 copies of the Book of Mormon but they threw them out.  Her dad got sick one day and the pastor from another church asked if someone gave them a book.  The pastor told them to throw the book out because it made their dad sick.  The threw the books out and their dad felt better, and so the family believed that the book brought sickness to their dad. Sad.  We invited them to attend a baptism service this weekend and they said that they would come.

We also dropped some Vietnamese materials to Trinh and she was grateful.  We met Dawn but her back was still hurting and told us that we could come around another time.

Jan 6, Friday - We had our last DLC for this transfer.  One of the changes was no more DLC as well unless urgent matters needed to be discussed.  We then joined Sister Baldock for lunch.  She said that her neighbor has a joey which he rescued from a shooter. Someone shot its mom for dog food.  We got to hold it. 

Cutee.. not me, the joey...looking fierce? or scared without its mom?

Sister Baldock was so lovely and shared her conversion story, that it started with Jackie (a neighbor) who shared a Book of Mormon with her. Now, Sister Baldock had grandchildren who are active in the church. It showed how a small action of sharing the Book of Mormon brought blessings not just for her but also for her generations.  She said that she is always praying for the missionaries.

Remember Claire and Kino? friends of Alice and Mason. We tracted their street again, knocked, and Claire opened the door.  Kino was sleeping but we gave Claire a Restoration pamphlet to read.

We also met Brielle in the Scotts home and taught her the Gospel using the footprint cutouts. We then gave her the Book of Mormon Story reader (picture book) for the kids. She was excited to read it. We read a chapter about Faith and Seed and also taught her how to pray. The Scotts told us that Brielle gave us a thumbs up and happy that we took time to visit her.

The apartment fuse blew..and so our lights, too!

 

                   Texting...we did not call our RS President

Jan 7, Sat - We helped Sister Roser with the weeding. I almost passed out because it was very hot. She gave us lunch afterwards but more of 'eat and run' because we had back-to-back appointments.

We attended baptism of Chloe Horsman, 8 y.o., and Babi came with family.  We invited Babi last Thursday to witness baptism and now she came with Saha and her husband, Babi's brother and 3 kids. Miracle! They said they enjoyed it and would come to church as well. The kids said they were bored but when Sister Clark told them about Primary, they were excited to come.

We also met Alice and Mason and shared about the Book of Mormon.  Mason had heaps of questions and interested to learn. He said that it made sense that we have the BOM. He talked about his job as a shearer and compared it to our life and Jesus Christ. Some shearers were cruel to the sheep; some nicked sheep so they needed to stitched the sheep causing some sheep not able to walk for days. The sheep experience is compared to the gospel, how the sheep know their shepherd and vice versa, and that some sheep may suffer in life not always because of their actions but because of others, and that we need the shepherd Jesus Christ to stitch us back. We may all go through shearing moments to help us learn, grow and improve. 

We also met Ann and her kids - Phoebe, Talya, Gypsy, Alex and her partner, Yogi. We shared about Faith with Yogi. He said that he had been to church with his grandpa and remembered the experience and feelings of going to church. He was kind of scary but he was really nice.  We shared with Phoebe how to pray while the other kids went biking in the yard. We invited Phobe to pray and Ann encouraged her but she was shy to say it so we offered one. They were willing to come to church but they would need a maxi taxi to take all 6 of them to church.  Also visited Inge and shared Mormon Message 'Your Potential, Your Privileges' that in life, we can fully access our privileges when we do CPR (church, pray, read).  She then gave us homemade cookies. Yum..

Jan 8, Sunday - We fasted today for miracles. Church started at 1 pm so we visited some people in the morning in Waverly. We visited Bronwyn and shared more about enduring to the end. She said she knew Christ more than us and no need to read the scriptures. Anyways, after that, we received a call from the Elders that David showed up in church and wanted to learn more.  Babi, Saha and her relatives, Mason and Brielle also came to church. Seven (7) investigators!..and Sharon showed up too. She had not been in church for 12 months with a note in her records "do not contact". During Sacrament Meeting, Sister Burden gave a talk about setting goals. We did not end up teaching all of them Gospel Principles. It was very hot in the chapel and the kids wanted to go home.  We taught Brielle and Sharon with the Scotts about God's attributes, the first lesson in the Manual. 

It was so great to see miracles when we fast and pray, such as today.  Seven investigators showed up in church. We were reading about Ammon and Aaron and how their companionship was a success.

We then shared a meal with the Bishop and his family. We also shared about Alma 37:46. Sometimes there are commandments that are easy but are important. We stressed the importance of CPR (church, pray read), even that may look easy, but save lives.Now that we know, we could save other people's lives by sharing and teaching.  Afterwards, we drove to Hobart.

MORE PHOTOS:

Week 51

Launceston, Tasmania: Dec 26, 2016 -Jan 1, 2017

Becoming Gorge-pro, the miracle of finding Christine in Grindelwald, some refused to listen to our message but some showed interest..Happy 1-year anniversary in the mission, Happy new year 2017!

Dec 26, Monday - We hiked again in the Gorge using another trail.  Soon, we would become pro-tour guides here...hahaha.

We visited Teresa, Agok's mom, and we talked a bit about God's love.  We understood she was very busy in the hospital and might not catch up with her again until next year.  We also met Mem who had read Alma 18.  We read it again with her and discussed some of her questions.  Though she was still skeptical about the existence of God, we invited her to read Alma 22.

Dec 27, Tuesday - Today, we worked with Maddie.  We went to visit Barry, father of Mark. Mark was in the ward list.  Barry informed us that Mark now lives in Grindewald which is 20 minutes drive. We shared to Barry about the Restoration and he said that it made sense to him to have living prophets.

We then visited some people in Legana, a suburb farther than Riverside, about 15 minutes away.  We tracted and met Brian who was surprised to see us.  For 8 years in Legana, we were the first missionaries who came. He had 3 published books about people who had visions or who were visited by angels.  He had studied about mormonism before and refused our invitation to read the Book of Mormon.  He believed in miracles and religion didn't matter as long as he believed in God.  He was a cancer survivor and did photography.

We also visited a less active family whose father had served a mission.  We shared to them #LighttheWorld even though Christmas was past. The father shared his mission experiences.  The family accepted our invitation to set a goal to improve their family prayers. Sad to see RMs going less active after their mission.

We also visited Sarah, a miracle to have her today because she was always busy, every now and then, flew to Melbourne.  She said she was born in the Church but left when she was 15.  She didn't believe in God anymore but we shared a verse in Alma 26 where it says God is mindful of everyone.  She was nice to us but not interested to learn again.

The Read family gave us dinner today.

Dec 28, Wed - Had our District meeting today where I gave training on teaching that God is our loving Heavenly Father using BREAD run activity; picked some scriptures that talked about the nature of God and each missionary in the district role played with me (where I portrayed Mem as investigator).  BREAD meant B-background of the scripture, R-read the scripture, E-explain, A-apply or liken the scripture to the investigator or missionaries, D-define blessings/commitment. RUN because those who role-played with had 2 minutes to share or else I would run..hehe.  Anyways, it was a great meeting and the elders shared gifts.  We received BOLD sauce from Elder Payne, to become bold but loving missionaries. We also received a USB containing Mormon messages and church videos that we could view in our portable DVD player.

We visited Ann and shared with her the Plan of Salvation.  She was receptive to our message and would love to meet us again.  She had stopped drugs for 4 years now and desired to quit smoking, too.

We also visited John, Shirelle and Emily.  John was really engaged in the church with his home teaching and the sacrament.  Shirelle and daughter Emily were less active but after our message about Christ being the foundation, they said they would go to church this Sunday..yeay!

Dec 29, Thurs - We tracted Hunter Street in Invermay and we met Michael.  Michael was walking his dog and he's a less active JW..haha.  He used to serve in Iraqi and he said that his experiences made him wonder if there's a God.  He was nice to us, said that we were welcomed to visit him anytime because he was retired, and that he might visit church one day.

Some houses had this - 

We shared a meal with Jackie today.

Dec 30, Friday - We went to Grindelwald today.  What a gorgeous place, it was like the Swiss Alps minus the snow.  We were looking for Christine in the ward list. The lady who opened the door said that Christine moved to Cul de Sac near this street and that someone might know about her.  We went to that place and found out only a 50ish million houses.  We tracted and asked if they know Christine.  After 3 houses, we couldn't possibly knock all houses in this very hot day.  We said a prayer and picked a house to knock.  Miracle, the guy who opened the door knew Christine.  He said Christine lived 2 houses away.  We invited him to listen to our message but said he was SDA and not interested so we thanked him. Beside this man's house was an empty lot so we knocked on the 2nd house after the empty lot.  No one opened, so we left a note and walked back to the car.  Then we thought of knocking on the house beside the empty lot and still use "Do you know Christine?" script to open the conversation.   Turned out, the girl who opened said, "hang on, I'll call her".  What a surprise!  Finally, we met Christine but she said she was not interested to learn again.  That day, we learned that God does answer prayers.  We prayed specifically to find Christine, the 2nd house we thought was the right one wasn't after all, then we put more effort and knocked one more and we found her!

We tried to visit more members in this suburb as we will not be driving this far often, but they were not home.  We talked to this guy painting a fence and asked him if he knows anyone who might be interested to listen or learn.  He said to visit the 2 houses beside him.  We knocked at this house and met David, a born-again Christian.  When we introduced the Book of Mormon to him, he said, "Can I have one? I want to read it."  We answered, "YES YOU CAN!"

We visited Mem again today and she told us that we better give up on her. We felt like she recognized God and answers to her questions but did not want to act on it or change.  She told us that we were still young, should explore the world and get out of our mormon bubble. We knew we were planting seeds..maybe she would be ready sometime, somewhere.

Celebrated our 1st year in the mission - I entered MTC-Provo one year ago today.  Pork ribs..yeay..my first in the mission!

Dec 31, Sat - Bread run today. We also visited and shared a lesson with Alice and Mason. Mason said he had an aunt in Nigeria who is LDS. He saw missionaries, never had a lesson with them, but wanted to learn about the doctrines. Alice and Mason were planning to get married in June because they wanted their baby to grow up in the church.

We also visited Willard and Ruvinbo and found them eating tea (dinner) with their oldest child, Precious.  Now, we've met all of them - Precious, Providence and Perseverance. Haha. Willard said he did his commitment and mowed the neighbor's lawn, from the 25 ways #Light..haha, he was really good.  We found out that they knew the Tarawhally, their hairdresser as well. They just connected the dots that this was the church that Asanatu told them about.  Wow, Asanatu was a good member missionary in her own way when she did hairdressing in her house.

Before going home today, we decided to visit one more house in the ward list, but turned out that they moved and so we met Trinh, a Vietnamese.  She had no religious beliefs and we taught her how to pray and she prayed.  That was really cool even just teaching someone to pray and was keen to do it.  Trinh was doing her PhD in Aquaculture, did not go to any church or joined any because of language barrier.  Her husband did not speak much English.  If they would move to Footscray, there were Viet-speaking Elders there.


NEW YEAR was coming - saw some fireworks from our flat at 9:30 pm..at 12 midnight, too! My comp tried to wake me up, I stood and watched for 2 seconds, the I fell to my bed...haha..couldn't be bothered.  

Jan 1, Sunday - Alice and Mason came to church today. We had our first Gospel Principles class here in Tasmania - Sister Burden and me - and we shared the Restoration using the cups.  Sister Bec was with us and she bore her testimony.  

We also talked to Brielle, 10y.o. if she would love to have us share some lessons and she said 'yes' and so we set appointment with the Scott family.  We visited Evandale and had dinner with Bishop and the Clarks. 

 We played Sly fox game and shared 3 Nephi 18:15-21, to watch and pray always.

Week 50

Launceston, Tasmania: Dec 19-25, 2016

Challenge hike to the Duck Reach Power Station, finding Mem, Spider moments on Christmas eve, Christmas lunch with the Challis, skype with family and Christmas presents..Thank you All for your love!

Dec. 19, Monday - The Gorge. This pathway was closed after the flood 6 months ago, now it's opened.  Then, we went to hike the Duck Reach Power Station, challenged ourselves to run/power walk and made it..hahaha..from 90 minutes to 60 minutes.

Today, we shared a meal with the Pawson family.  They served us lamb cutlets, chicken tenders and salads..YUM. We then joined their family home evening in the music room where Brother Dawson played the piano.  He read a Christmas story and we shared 1John 1:5-7.  We then helped wrapped some boxes for the Bishop's Blessing Basket.

We then drove to meet Teresa; her daughter, Agok, opened the door. She told us that her mom was preparing to go to bed. We got to talk to Agok for a while and shared with her the Book of Mormon.  She accepted the Book of Mormon and told us that she will read it when we go.  She said that excitedly so we got excited, especially also that we got a return appointment for Friday this week.

Dec 20, Tuesday - After our District Meeting, we drove to Sister Jones. Sister Jones was turning 96 years old and she was busy baking raspberry pastry when we came. She rolled her own pastry, so much for a 96-year old woman.  Lots of energy! We sang Silent Night with her.

We also visited the Randalls and showed them the #LightTheWorld video.  They gave us both presents - handmade lace bookmark and a Christmas cake.

We then shared a meal with the McPartlins and had family home evening. We also played games with the kids.  Great family! Both parents taught the kids the gospel.

We then visited the Scott family and also showed them the #LightTheWorld video. Awesome Christmas decors in the house.  Brother and Sister Scott were diligent with home and visiting teaching. They told us about their granddaughter, Brielle, 10, who came to church and primary class but not baptized yet. Since Brielle's parents are not so active, we planned to help Brielle feel comfortable in church and primary classes.

Dec. 21, Wed - Today, we worked in Invermay, visited some formers and met Brett.  Brett said that he was busy at the moment but would like to meet with us again.  He was waiting for his meals.  We thought of having Brett in our bread run list.  Invermay is a humble area and so was most of our areas.  Then we tracted Herbert St and asked if they know anyone who would be interested to have us.  There were a few people who told us not to tract in the units of the houses we just went to because these were dangerous. Hmm...

It was very hot today and we walked for almost 2 hours visiting people in streets nearby.  I think this was the most walking I had done in Tasmania.

We had dinner with Sister Barnes and she invited her friend, Amy, and her 2 kids.  We shared to them the video; Amy and the kids liked it. They are meeting the JW but Amy said that she would also love to meet with us after the holidays. Sister Barnes also served a mission and was awesome by testifying to Amy about the gospel and a Christ-centered Christmas.

We also visited the Tarawhally family where we met their friend, Josephine, non-LDS.  We shared to Josephine the video which led us to sharing the Restoration. Josephine had heaps of questions but said she only believed in the Bible and no other book.  She would always ask "Is it in the Bible?" to everything we said.  She was not ready yet.  We loved visiting the Tarawhally family because they always have visitors or friend every time we come.  They had strong connection in the African community.  

Dec 22, Thurs - We used a new planner for our weekly planning.  Couldn't believe that it was the last week of transfer!

We went to the home of a former investigator but found out that they moved.  We found Paul and shared a discussion with Paul and Jackie about the enabling power of the atonement. Paul was a former SDA minister but was not doing it anymore.  He loved to talk to us but he expressed that he would not be convinced with anything we say.  We then knocked 2 doors before going back to the car.  We met Stacey, a mom of 2 kids.  She was very lovely and said that she would love to have us over after the holidays.  A few of the former investigators we visited were not ready still, maybe in a few months.

We visited Rosslyn in the age care. We shared to her about the importance of prayer in Alma 37:37.  Most members here were older people; the younger ones either moved or became less active. (But it's fun to teach older people; we just needed to find younger families.)

We went to the park for a picnic dinner with the church members.  We met Melissa, the former Sister Hadfield.  She served in this area for 6 months and opened Tasmania for sister missionaries 3 years ago.

We also met the Tripptree family, the family of Sister Tripptree who was with our mission while waiting for her visa, and now serving at Temple Square.  The family was so lovely and gave us heaps of lemon.  Just perfect for us since we had runny nose for the past days.

Dec 23, Friday - After DLC, we cooked pizza for lunch..I mean, heated a frozen pizza..hehe..

We visited Edda and shared a Christmas message with her.  She was still set that she could be both Catholic and Mormon.  Today was very hot - 30 deg. C.  I saw a sprinkler and we ran into it..and our clothes would dry again in minutes.

We visited a former investigator who lived in 8 Walcorm St. according to the records and her name was Mem.  We knocked at 8 Walcorm and no one was there so we left a note. We tracted the whole Walcorm St and met Olive, an older lady who was not really interested but would like to have us back to chat.  We continued tracting the 16 units of 11 Walcorm St. The families we knocked into were not really interested and told us that all the people were Christians already. But we still continued knocking. When we knocked at 8/11 Walcorm St., a lady opened and asked, "Are you from that funny church?" We told her that we were from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  She invited us in and told us her name was Mem. The previous missionaries might have written the address wrong and did not realize that 8 was part of 11 Malcorm.  Mem offered us lime drink which we badly needed because it was really hot.  She said that her first missionary contact was with the Elders 10 years ago. She didn't believe in God but she pondered when we asked her about her purpose in life. She accepted to read Alma 18 and we got a return appointment to meet her again tomorrow. Miracle!

We then shared a meal with Sister Roser, like a Christmas dinner.  She gave us presents and bonbons.  She had a good sense of humor and strong faith and testimony of the gospel.

Dec 24, Sat - We did a special bread run today because Brother Pawson gave us bread last night. We also met with Babi who was a former investigator from Bhutan.  She was really nice and we shared with her the #LightTheWorld video. After watching the video on the Ipad, the kids continued to watch other church videos in the Mormon Channel.

Bishop called us if we could help him visit a few families and we were excited.  We met the Thomas family who we tried to visit yesterday but no one was home. Today, Sister Thomas got a day off. We shared the #LightTheWorld video.

Dinner with the Kauwhatas and they gave us presents..yeay!

We also visited Sister Birelle and we read Luke 2 with her.  She was 90 but still determined; and gave us presents as well.

Christmas Eve. The Huntsman visited us, looked small in the camera but really huge, as big as my hand stretched. Never had I seen much unity and teamwork, planning and action between me and my companion to get rid of the Huntsman.  Christmas blessed our companionship with unity..hahaha..

We dragged our beds to the living room and slept with the Christmas tree.

Dec 25, Sunday - Then we opened our presents in the morning,Christmas Day.

In church, got a photo with Alex and Emma who would be leaving to Brisbane later today. 

Joined the Challis family for lunch 

Skype with family - Pa, Ma, Shan and Vyen

Then my companion had her turn to skype with family.

I played the piano while waiting for my companion.

Challis garden

Bishop gave us stockings