Week 70

Dandenong; May 8-14, 2017

Miracles - Vicky, Rajinder, and Amber with the help of Bro and Sis Samau Oeti; Bearing my testimony during Eastside Zone Conference (as one of those leaving for home this transfer); My companion, Sister Lambert, had her 1-year mark in the field; splits with the help of Sabrina and Sammy, Te Haerenga and Nina; exchanges with Lynbrook Sisters; Mother's Day skype with family...and more.

May 8, Mon - Zone Pday at the chapel: played UNO, footy and secret combinations.

After that, we went to O'Callaghan; at the door, she was saying how busy she was at work. In my head, I was thinking of giving her a "drop testimony" then visit her again maybe in a few months...but when we shared about how putting God first in our lives could bless us, she paused for a while then invited us in. I think the reason why she was hesitant to invite us in was because her house was in a mess, trash everywhere because of the dogs and her 2 sons were not helping. We got to know her more, then shared more about Lehi's vision of the tree of life and the need to hold on to the iron rod. We then offered to help her clean. She said we could come back Thursday to clean.

We then popped by Aman again; she told us that she was happy where she was and did not want to change church because she was strictly vegetarian and thought that we should not eat animal meat. After Aman, we had family home evening with Estelle and talked about "Look and Live, look to Christ in everything."

May 9, Tue - After District Meeting, we visited some formers to follow up and update, then had splits with Sabrina and Sammy. Sabrina had plans to serve a mission while Sammy just got back from her mission in Utah 5 months ago. Sister Lambert and Sabrina found a new contact, Ron, when they tracted a bit while looking for a former. Sammy and I went together to a former who had moved but as we tracted the court, we met Vicky who invited us in right away. She was from Fiji, of a Buddhist background, and feeling down at the moment because her son got mixed in the wrong crowd. We shared about God's love and she asked us if Jesus Christ could help her. She was very keen and we knelt down to pray before we left. Miracle.

Then we picked up the Lynbrook Sisters for exchanges tomorrow.

May 10, Wed - Exchanges today: Me and Sister Caguimbal, Sister Lambert and Sister Manosig. Sister Caguimbal and I visited Antonin but we set another appointment after he told us that he was busy because he was selling his house. We also went to visit Mary again and this time, she invited us in. We shared more about the BOM and knelt down to pray. We then went back to visit Elise but she was not home so we tracted Baird Street. We met Jab who told us that we could come back next time. I didn't see the tow thingy from one of the parked cars and hit my knee..huhuhu. We received a text from Mayet (with whom we had appointment later today) that she did not want to meet with us anymore.

We then visited Amber and read with her 3Nephi 11:1-12. I thought we needed to bring a fellowshipper next time for her to progress. We also followed-up Pilaryo, a Filipino that the other Sisters met last time. He said we could meet his family next time. While Sisters Lambert and Manosig visited Ana and Santi, we tracted the street. One man commented why we kept coming back and giving out something. We were a bit puzzled and then he asked, "Are you JW? (JW means Jehovah's Witness.) We said, "no", still he said "Well, I'm still not interested." I thought that was a funny encounter.

     L-R: Me, Sisters Caguimbal, Manosig, Lambert

May 11, Thurs - East Side Zone Conference. My companion, Sister Lambert, and I gave training on How to Begin Teaching. We texted all of the East zones to prepare by studying their favorite teacher in the scriptures and how they begin teaching. During the training, the Sisters were very involved and engaged because they studied in advance. We then focused on King Benjamin and how he taught. We also invited Senior Missionaries and President and Sister Vidmar to be our investigators during the role plays. We gave them the information of our real investigators. President Vidmar acted out Des. At the end, President Vidmar invited those who were leaving this transfer to bear their testimony, me one of them..huhu.

                              Sister Fong and Sister Johnson

                     Giving the Sisters a ride to the train station..taxi driver.

                 With Devon Meadows: Sisters Leilua, Faletao, and Solo

                 Driving the Lynbrook Sisters - Sisters Caguimbal and Manosig

Sister Lambert's one-year mark, so we celebrated by eating at Nando's, her fave food place.

May 12, Fri - Weekly planning in the morning. Then to Narre Warren for interviews with President Vidmar.

The Moorabbin Sisters gave us a referral Ayjang; we called to confirm our meeting but when we came, she was not home. We tracted the street and met Rajinder from india. He was bubbly and cheerful, "Don't worry about anything, just enjoy the sun and breeze." We talked a bit about baptism and the Book of Mormon. He read the introduction but still like casual and a bit mocking the book, and said that he did not want a copy. As we were leaving, he asked why we were doing this. He asked if he could look at the book again, then scanned and read random pages even the verse where it says "O Ye perverse and wicked generation.." After a while, he said that he felt good, gave us his number because he was moving, took the book and read it on his way back into the house. Miracle.

We then followed up Jab but he was not home. We also visited Amber, this time we brought Bro. and Sis. Samau Oeti. They clciked right away, Bro. Samau was baptized 4 years ago and bore an amazing testimony on how the gospel changed his life. Amber responded that this was what she needed. Bro. and Sis. Samau Oeti offered to pop by on a Sunday so they could also meet the partner. She said she wanted to learn more and be baptized. The kids were listening and paying attention, too. Miracle.

May 13, Sat - We met Josephine again but she forgot that we were meeting her today so we rescheduled for next week. We followed up on Sayeda, the Muslim mom we met last week. She invited us in and we shared the Plan of Salvation. She said that it's the same with their beliefs..hmm. She agreed to meet with us again to learn about Restoration and that we could bring fellowshippers. She asked about the difference between Islam and Mormonism and we told her about the priesthood, she was curious.

We then picked up Te Haerenga and Nina from the chapel just right after Mother's Day lunch. We did splits but we went together though to meet Abdul. Abdul did not know about baptism and he said he would come to church this Sunday.

Sis Te Haerenga and I tracted Amalfi Drive and met Rita who invited us in right away. She's a Muslim from Egypt. She wanted an Arabic BOM which we would bring during our visit again next week. We then visited the Lawrence family, played games with Matthew because he was not in a good mood. After playing Uno, he was fine, so we shared POS using cut-outs, or so we say, Matthew was the one teaching us. The family would come to church tomorrow.

May 14, Sun - Mother's Day and Skype with family at the Agawin's place. The family prepared lunch for us, Filipino food, pinakbet and adobo..yum!

                                             My dad..              and          mom..
Today, Abdul came to church, looked like he enjoyed it. He talked to a few people even Bishop. He said he needed to go but would stay longer next week. Matthew and his mom came as well, also Leila from Iran. Touraj passed the sacrament for the first time and said that he felt really good. Ehsan also told us about not drinking coffee and not smoking for long time now and his desire to go to the temple.

Last ward council, the brethren mentioned about visiting Hana Ah Mu and so we did. They came to church today with partner Solomon (non-LDS) and 3-year old kid, Peyton. We shared about Faith with them in their home. Hana had not been to church for a while but wanted to come back. She's related to the stake president. Solomon was a bit anxious with missionaries so Hana suggested that we could have a dinner appointment next week so Solomon would be comfortable with us.

We visited Sayeda and her husband, Azim and we shared about Restoration. Sayeda said that our message was good but she did not feel right leaving Islam. She said that we had the same message and it did not matter..huhu..but she said that she would read the Persian BOM. Azim studied different religions, very nice, but couldn't speak English so Sayeda  had to do the translation. We were not able to bring a Persian-speaking couple because families were busy on Mother's Day.