Missionary work continues. My companions pursued the work despite of sad news in their families. Had Temple day. Found Neville and Laura; finally got to Raymond's house..Des was awesome in Gospel Principles class, and met Dumapias Sisters, originally from my birthplace.
Feb 27, Monday - Shopping for food and got permission to go to Brighton Beach and see the colorful houses.
Bonding time at this difficult time where my two companions just learned of deaths in the family - Sister Manosig's father passed away 2 days ago and Sister Koroi's grandfather passed away 2 months ago. A stroll in the beach was one of the Manosig family funtimes in the Philippines.
We then drove to the Mission Home and talked to President Vidmar. We also met Elder Fackrell who would be flying home back to Utah tomorrow together with his twin brother who served in Brisbane.
Feb 28, Tuesday - District Meeting today. We did some role-plays about the Plan of Salvation. The Ward knew about the sad news about my companions and they shared some words of comfort. Then, we had lunch with the Fear family. Sister Fear was awesome and did splits with us so we could visit more people. We visited some new contacts and found more contacts when we tracted the street. The Lynbrook Sisters stayed with us tonight for Golden review tomorrow. Sister Caguimbal and Sister Manosig were companions before and knew each other back in the Philippines, my same intake.
Fijian Power, prepping themselves for Golden review
Mar 1, Wed - Lunch before battle
Golden review. Did some fun games to test knowledge about the fundamentals and commissions.
Dropped the Sisters at the train station.
With the Chinese-speaking Sisters; Sister Koroi (closest to camera)
Front row: Sister guan, Me and Sister Patchell
Back row: Sisters Tamani, Caguimbal, Manosig, Dobberfuhl, Fong and Johnson
Then drove Lynbrook Sisters back to their area.
We went to the address given by Ali, the guy we GQed on the street; turned out he gave us wrong address but we met 2 new contacts. The man living in the address is Neville, been to the Philippines, and had neighbor Laura who came outside too; while we talked to Neville, Sister Manosig spoke to Laura. We both have return appointments with them on Saturday at 4 and 5 pm. Neville had a Filipino friend in Cebu who was strong LDS, though he said he was not into religion but willing to listen.
We also Touraj and taught him more about Faith. Touraj really liked to learn more about Jesus Christ and watched Bible videos. He had heaps of trials at the moment, from searching jobs and learning English but he said,"I have trials, many. I don't like them but I know God would help me." Simple but powerful testimony from him.
Mar 2, Thurs - Today was Zone Temple day. We had a great time; always best experience going inside the Temple. We then got a call from the Zone leaders if we could help out a member who just moved in Hampton Park. When we got to the place, we found out it was Ivy. I met her during exchanges with the Glen Waverly Sisters. She was so grateful for our help and she cooked us fried rice.
After correlation meeting with our Ward mission leader, we drove to Mooroolbark. It was a big area and the Sisters did not have a car. The bus system was not really good and very hilly and not good for biking. So we grabbed this opportunity to double into their area and help them visit people who lived far away.
Mar 3, Friday - I was with Sister Chang and Sister Koroi while Sister Manosig paired with Sister Cruz. Their parents are best friends in the Philippines and they visit each other twice a week.
We visited Bill, nice and funny, and commented that we were smart Sisters for answering his questions. We invited him to read the scriptures because he could also find answers for himself and he said that he would come to church. We also talked to a few people on our way back to the car. We met this Irish lady and we get to talk a bit about Ireland and the places I visited. She lived in Belfast before. We did not have much time to talk but she accepted a card before she hopped into the car, her husband picked her up.
Dinner with George family.
Mar 4, Sat- Cooked some lumpia (spring rolls), we added carrots and broccoli.
We did our weekly planning in one of the parks and we got to talk to an older couple having BBQ. We also met Anita, LDS, having birthday party with some family.
Sister Clark came with us to visit Des and she served us Tinola (Chicken stew). Sister Des was stressed at the moment looking for a place to move by Monday, March 6. We comforted her with our message of patience. She was strong and said that she would come to church tomorrow.
We did splits today; Sister Manosig paired with Sister Clark to visit Laura and Neville. I was with Sister Koroi to visit Raymond and the Seppings family. The last time with Sister Tuu'u, that was not the Raymond who called us whom we met. Raymond called us again and asked why we did not come. We tried to look for his address in Keys St. but saw only buildings 2, 3, 4, 6, 7. As we were walking back to the car, we noticed that the perpendicular road where we parked had house numbers 15 and 17, which meant that the opposite houses were even numbers. We looked for house #16 and found it, knocked, and Raymond opened the door. Turned out that he was the man who I saw walking towards that door when we were looking for the houses but I didn't stop because we were in a hurry for appointment. Lesson learned: It is important not just to go swiftly but also pause and look for opportunities to always talk to everyone.
When we came to Brother Seppings, we found out his concern - he did not want to change his religion, rather born and die a Catholic. Sister Seppings said that we should not give up on her husband (the only non-LDS in his immediate family) but pray for him, tapping Bro. Sepping's shoulder while she was talking. Brother Sepping said that he felt good going to LDS church (not going to Catholic church anymore); because he felt good, he did not see the need to get baptized..hmm..people's agency sometimes is frustrating but we are working on our patience..hehe..
We then had dinner with Sister Clark and she cooked us corned beef..yeay, my fave. Sister Clark was grateful for the experience today and for inviting her. She said that though she had trials of her own, she realized that other people had harder ones than her.
Mar 5, Sunday - We had Ward council. Des came to church though she was stressed about her moving. She cried and said that she could not stay but we still invited her to join Gospel Principles class. She stayed for class and said that she felt good. Lesson was about prophets, she participated and answered questions during discussions. She was awesome but had to leave after the class.
I also met two Sister Dumapias. They said that there were many Daroys in Iligan, asked if I was Norman's daughter. When I asked if they knew Daniels..haha..the other Sister not in photo said that Norman visited her sister in Sweden, also said that my mom was smart..the thing I did not inherit..haha.
We visited Des after church and helped her a bit in packing. She was grateful and introduced us to her neighbor, Medina, and invited her to church..what a great fellowshipper already.
We had dinner with the Lavaka family, former Bishop in Dandenong but now serving in Stake presidency. Their oldest son was serving in Philippines Olongapo mission, sometimes ate porridge (Arroz Caldo, has chicken meat) as the best food the family can offer. The Lavaka both served missions. We had a feast, very yum food.
Walking back to the car, I was the last one but I saw this big full tattooed man walking his dog, wearing headphones. I waved and he waved back and removed his headphones. We talked for a bit and then later, my companions joined. He was Seni from Tonga and he had LDS friends too. He was nice and gave us his address and number. We invited him to meet the Lavaka, Tongan family as well, and he agreed. We just needed to set an appointment with him. Cool experience, not to judge but to talk to everyone.
We also met the Te Hiwi family, Maori, with 10 children. Nice family. Sister Te Hiwi knew a lot of church doctrines. She stopped coming to church because of cancer..forgot the name but it affects the vocal chords and 10% of Aussies get it.
Great week!
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