Just One More Time

This week was amazing. I love the work that is taking place here as I work harder and harder each and everyday. My fear of talking to people is beginning to become a thing of the past thanks to Heavenly Father's help. For example, my first transfer here a good day for me was when I would contact 15 people on my own in one day. Now I am contacting about 15 people in one hour! That plus my companions hard work put us at contacting 307 people this week. We are taking it upon us to "hasten the work of salvation."

We met with a guy from Congo this past week name Mokwa. Our first visit I thought I was back in Georgia again. The whole lesson he just smashed us with his beliefs and gave scripture reference after scripture reference from the Bible to "support" his argument. At the end of the lesson I had o desire to meet with him again and was just ready to call it quits. Especially after his prayer, which was in French and I was able to understand that he thanked God for the opportunity to teach us! I stood up to leave and then Sister Cabamongan invited Mokwa to meet with us again the next day! My heart dropped when he accepted. After Mokwa left I tried telling Sister Cabamongan that I had met a ton of people like Mokwa and that there was really no point in meeting with him again. I was convinced he would not change. However, I put my trust in Sister Cabamongan.

The next day in my personal prayers I asked Heavenly Father to soften Mokwa's heart to our message, but to also soften my heart so that I could heed promptings from the Holy Ghost in order to teach with the power of God. It worked. At the end of our second lesson Mokwa agreed that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, that the Book of Mormon was scripture and he couldn't wait to go online and watch a talk by President Monson to see if he was a prophet of God as well. I said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to forgive me for judging Mokwa and to thank Him for softening not only Mokwa's heart but my own as well.

Tony had yet another baptismal interview. Not this time. We are still working with him. Elder Allen, who interviewed him, gave us some advice on ways we could help strengthen Tony's testimony so that he could have a more personal conversion rather than relying on our testimonies. One more time and I think Tony can pass.

I know this church is true with every particle of my being. Right now I restarted reading the Book of Mormon and I am in my favorite part...2 Nephi! The words of Isaiah are like music to my soul as he so beautifully describes the work of the Lord and warns us of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. In 2 Nephi 16:11 Isaiah speaks, " Then said I: Lord, how long? And he said: Until the cities be wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land be utterly desolate."

This hit me to the core of my being. The world will never be without man. The Lord may cause much destruction to the earth because of wickedness, but never will it be utterly desolate. So how long are we to follow in the ways of the Lord? Forever. Sure it may sound like a long time if you think of it as a list of things we can't do. However, we can think of it in ways of things that we CAN do. I can be with my family forever, I can get blessings forever, and I can forever become better and better a person. Forever seems like just enough time to me. I love you all and pray that you are all well! Thanks for all your support. I can feel it and I love it!

May we all work on forever Being Prepared. Loves!



Just thought I'd add a little picture of the Urban wildlife that has joined the magpies in our morning wake-up call! Quite beautiful indeed

Moroni 8:16

"...Behold, I speak with boldness, having authority from God; and I fear not what man can do; for perfect love casteth out all fear."

This week I have been able to witness this scripture in action as I began a new transfer in the same area. Though I am in the same area I feel like I am starting fresh. SunnyBank no longer holds a world I fear, rather a group of people I love and want to share the restored gospel with.

Almost 8 months ago, I stood on the stand in church and bore testimony of my sincere desire to serve my Heavenly Father by becoming a full time missionary of Jesus Christ. I had no idea how hard it would be to turn my courageous words into action once I got into the mission field.

The new transfer has brought many changes including a new District Leader with a passion for having miracles occur in our daily lives. Elder Allan gave a training at our weekly District Meeting that lit my soul on fire and I have wanted to do nothing but missionary work ever since. I have found that as I open my mouth and truly talk to everyone, whether they have rejected me in the past or not, I have been filled with peace, and with power from the Holy Ghost to say the things the Lord would have me say to my brothers and sisters here on earth.

One day as I was talking to a man in Chinglish (Chinese-English) about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I suddenly felt the Holy Ghost pierce my heart and fill my head with a list of questions that would help this man I was talking to better understand Heavenly Father's love for him. I was an amazing feeling and I did not even think to be afraid of what this man would think. As I asked him these questions inspired of the Holy Ghost, I could see his brow come together in deepest concentration as he truly pondered on the things I asked him. He ended up asking if he could give me his number! It was a miracle indeed. One that would never happened if I had not talked to him or let the Holy Ghost guide my actions in speaking to this man.

Mom and Dad I have finally ridden that nice bike we purchased 5 months ago when I arrived in Australia!

Seeing as our car access was taken with the new transfer and we now have 9 Chinese Elders and Sisters in SunnyBank we have decided as a companionship to give tracting a go. This means we get to ride our bikes outside of our normal 2-block radius!

The first time we went we ran into a lady who invited us back anytime as long as we called her before we headed over.

Saturday, we decided to go ahead and head over to that lady's house, even though she didn't pick up the phone. It is a good thing we did too! We get to her house and someone is just pulling into the driveway, but it is not the lady we were looking for. Knowing that nothing happens "just by chance" in the Lord's work we decided to go and talk to this lady. It turned out to be a less active lady who we had been assigned to visit teach and had been unable to get in contact with her because her phone number on the ward roster didn't work! We talked to her, got her real phone number, asked her if she needed any help, and then told her we wanted to visit again. She was very friendly and has the cutest little girl! It was well worth the sweaty bike-ride...in a skirt! And no worries my skirt only flew up when no one was looking!

My last mini-miracle moment of the week that I want to share comes because of Sister Lai. Sister Lai is a great addition to SunnyBank and is helping me to truly love this area and love missionary work. She is full on committed to the work of Salvation and is a great example of talking to everyone, which really encourages me to talk to everyone as well.

We were walking to the bus stop, per usual, when a guy came to wait at the light with us. I just opened my mouth and started talking to Tatz. He is from Japan and was interested in coming to church. I soon realized that he was not going to cross the same street as us and so I let him walk off--happy that I had talked to this guy. However, for Sister Lai that was not enough! She asked if I had gotten his phone number or address and when I said no, she said, "Let's go! We can still cross the street." So we ran after Tatz! He had just arrived and had no phone and didn't know his address, but he gave us a general area of where he lives and we will find him again and he will remember us for sure because we ran after him!

Life as a missionary is amazing! I am truly feeling the Hastening of the Lord's work. I encourage all to do something to help someone else get on the path that leads to our Heavenly Father's presence. I promise that if you do so your whole soul will feel alive!

Time to Grow Up

Whoops! This little possum is stuck in the SunnyBank bridge, where I will be spending yet another six weeks of my mission trying to find Chinese people who want to hear the message of Jesus Christ.

This time is a bit different though...

First:

The girl in the pink is the newest addition to SunnyBank. Sister Lai will be joining Sister Cabamongan and I in the quest to baptize the people in our area. She is from Singapore, a BYU student, and Chinese is her second language that she has been studying for 10 years! So far so good. She has a lot of energy and loves to work hard.

Second:

Last transfer there were three Chinese companionships and one English companionship in our ward. NOW, there are FOUR Chinese companionships and one English, making 11 missionaries in the ward! We have a new District Leader and for the first time we have been given tracting boundaries, so we are expected to hit the pavement in trying to find some Chinese Families. Our companionship also has no car anymore so we are full time bike. It is going to be an interesting transfer indeed.

Third:

The third thing is amazing as far as the whole mission goes. President has decided that two Assistants is no longer enough. Our mission now has FOUR Assistants to the President and my favorite AP has been put into the mission field as my Zone Leader! I was so excited, because Elder Fa'ao is such an inspiring missionary and now I get to learn from him more often.

Some of you may wonder if I am a little discourage being in the same area, yet another transfer. Truthfully, at first I was, but after much prayer and the love of my Heavenly Father comforting me, I am excited for this new transfer! I am determined to not get comfortable. I am determined to baptize. I am determined to be the best that I can be no matter where I am located. I trust that President Henderson is an inspired man of God and that Heavenly Father told him that I am needed in SunnyBank for at least six more weeks. I trust that this is the Lord's will. Sure I may only see a tiny tiny bit of Australia while I am here, but I did not come here to see all the wondrous things Australia has to offer. I came here to find the wonderful people who have not yet accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Miracles, Celebrations, and Heart-Break

Miracles:

This week, as usual, I was fighting my obscene fear of talking to people. It has been hard for me to approach people that aren't Asian (though you think it would be a comfort to talk in my native tong it isn't!). Especially since most Chinese people are in China right now for New Year festivities, I have had to conquer this fear of talking to Australians at the bus stop.

Well, this week I was sitting at the bus stop, when a very skinny guy sat down towards the end of the bench. I knew I should talk to him, but the fear began to creep in. I looked at the time-table to see how much time I had until the next bus and then said a prayer in my heart for Heavenly Father to take over my weakness and help me talk to this guy. I took a deep breath and when I looked up this guy had slid up next to me and he asked me, "What's your first impression when you see me?" Startled I smiled and replied, "Nice shirt." For he truly did have a nice shirt on.

We began talking and I forgot about the five minutes I had until the next bus came, and I just got to know this guy named Shaun. Shaun said he was a Spiritualist, because he wasn't tied down to one church and really liked some of the Buddhist Beliefs, though he doesn't believe in Buddha, but God. This was the perfect segway for me to explain my beliefs. I felt like I was just talking to a friend from high school. I talked to Shaun about how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was a little different than most Christian Churches because we believe that God has called a prophet to the Earth to lead and guide us just as he has in times of old. When I said that Shaun replied, "I've always wondered why God would talk to man before, but now."

After about 15 minutes Shaun got on a bus that had already come three times. When I asked him why he had waited he said, "Because I wanted to hear what you had to say." I am happy to say Shaun is now a potential investigator!

The Second Miracle is named Yao Zhen.

Everyday we hand out pass along cards at the bus stop. We often find them discarded in the bushes or in the trash can. I often wonder if we are wasting the Lord's resources by giving out so many with no results. Family, friends, fellow-missionaries, I am here to tell you the cards work! We gave a card to a girl who had no interest and she gave it to her boyfriend, Yao Zhen.

Yao Zhen texted us and said: hi, i got ur massage the day before yesterday and i think its maybe a good chance to know ur God.

Thinking he meant voice-mail we looked through all our phone numbers and could not find the number that texted us with a name. So we faked it until we made it! We texted back and arranged for a time to meet our mystery golden. We met him up at the KFC and none of us recognize him, but he sees our name tags and says hello. We soon discovered that his name is Yao Zhen and his girlfriend gave him our card and he decided he wants to learn more about God. The cards work!

Celebrations:

Happy Chinese New Year! Special Thanks to the Song's and Ngaika's!

Left to Right Top to bottom: Eric, Lillith, Rachel, Me, Jesse, Carol, E. Williams, S. Chen, S. Song, Br. Song,
E. Santa Ana, S. Cabamongan, S. Ngaika, Br. Ngaika

E. Chen, Fan, E. Wu

Chinese New Year started January 30th and is still going on! Saturday night our ward missionaries the Song's hosted a Chinese New Year party and the missionaries were invited over for the dinner portion. There was all kinds of yummy food. From mussels, chicken, and vegetables with the secret Malaysia ingredient (coconut milk) to deserts called Hong Kong cake, mud cake, fruit, and so much more! Plus Jesse and Rachel who recently moved to Gold Coast came up and we were able to be reunited with them for a night. It was quite the celebration and I was thankful the next day was fast Sunday!

The Girls
Left to right: Carol, Sister Song, Me, Rachel, Sister Chen, Sister Cabamongan and in front is Jesse!

Heart-Break:

Last night was Tony's baptismal interview. He didn't pass and it broke my heart. We have been working with him for 4 months now and the Word of Wisdom continues to be a struggle, but we will not lose faith. Tony loves what we teach him and one day he will have enough will power and heavenly help to keep the commandments the Lord has given us to protect us while we are here on earth. It is just sad because once again transfers are here and we have no idea what's happening.

I love you all and am grateful your outpouring support and love. Though I am far away from my family I feel your love and the love of our friends. The Lord loves us each so very much. Nothing makes that more manifest to me than when I am teaching one of His children who know nothing about their Heavenly Father. I can literally the Lord working through my mouth as I try to explain with the help of the Holy Ghost that there is always someone who loves us, someone we can talk to, and someone who we can lean on.

Happy Chinese New Year! The Year of the Horse!

Endurance

In the Gospel of Jesus Christ we teach that we must receive the Restored Gospel, Repent, be Baptized, receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and finally Endure to the End. Enduring is possibly the hardest part of being a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; but it is very possible and very rewarding. While not many Chinese people are in our area right now, I have been focusing on my endurance, for I know that if I faithfully endure then I will be able to reap the rewards that are promised from the Lord when we "endure well" our afflictions.

Like I mentioned not many new people are here but thanks to the baptisms in the past three months, we are still busy teaching recent converts and helping them prepare to go to the temple. Above is one girl Sister Chen and I have been working with since my first transfer, and now all three of us are seeing the miracle of her fast building faith. Elizabeth (above) is from Taiwan where she was baptized and then immediately moved to Australia afterwards and got a little lost because of a bad divorce. Despite her circumstances, Elizabeth is the one of the most charitable people I have ever met. She feeds us every Friday night the best meals. She watches out for Arash, another recent convert, trying to help him find a job, and she is always asking us if there is more she can do. She loves the gospel and I love watching her faith grow as we teach her. She is reading the Book of Mormon and this upcoming Sunday she will be interviewed to get a temple recommend. Very exciting to see how quickly the Holy Ghost is reteaching her the things her missionaries in Taiwan introduced her to.

Not much exciting has happened since last week. Max came to a dinner with us and it was a really good experience. It was actually at the family Steven ate dinner with before he got baptized and now Max has done the same thing, following in his older brother's footsteps towards the Celestial Kingdom.  He is all set to be baptized this upcoming Saturday.

We did have a bit of a scare yesterday when Steven and Max didn't show up to church. Church is now at 8:30am instead of 1:30pm and it is proving to be quite a hard transition for members and investigators alike. We had confirmed the night before with Max and Steven, but it was getting closer and closer to 8:30 and they had yet to arrive. We called Steven and he picked up with a very tired, "Hui, hello?" We had woken him up! We told him to hurry up and get to church otherwise Max couldn't get baptized this Saturday. Thankfully they made it to church just a smidgen late and Max is still on track!

It is now almost the end of January and we are excited as can be for three reasons:

1) Max's Baptism
2) School starts back up which means our investigators and new people will be arriving
3) Chinese New Year!!!

I know the church is true and that if we work hard and endure to the end, whether it be the end of the month, the end of a trial, or the end of life; we will earn a great reward and be able to live with our loving Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ again!

Thanks for all your love and support. I recently received heaps of mail from the ward and family from Christmas! Thanks for keeping me in your prayers. Even though I don't know many of the people from the Rosehill Ward I am grateful for the love they have for my family and for their added support while I am serving the Lord.

A Promise is a Promise

This week I was reminded of promises. As a child whenever I made a promise with a friend we would "pinky swear" and that meant it was serious. A simple interlock of pinkies symbolized the utmost importance of the secret or action we promised to keep or fulfill. As a missionary we make people promises as representatives of Jesus Christ, and people promise us to read the Book of Mormon, pray, come to church etc. Sadly, these promises are often broken and I just want to cry at times because these promises are so much bigger than my childhood "pinky swear" promises.

However, this week we were lucky to teach a new guy! His name is Nick and we have been trying to meet up with him for a couple of weeks now, but he was busy with the Christmas holidays. He's from China, but has pretty flawless English because he's been here for five years. Last week we scheduled an appointment with Nick and when we called him to confirm the night before, he remembered and was excited to meet with us. Nick doesn't have a Christian background, like most of our investigators, but he really has a strong desire to believe rather than have us prove there is a God, which is so refreshing!

We met with Nick and then invited him to come to church on Sunday, which starts at 8:30! He said he would be there, but please call him in the morning to make sure he was awake.  When we called him Sunday morning and asked if he was still planning to come to church he replied, "Of course, a promise is a promise. I set my alarm and am getting ready right now."

Nick's reply reminded me that all is not discouraging! Nick helped me remember my promise to the Lord to serve a full-time mission. Right now it is hard to be in the Chinese program because not only are most of our investigators out of town until February, but MOST Chinese people that used to come to the bus stop are also in China, Hong Kong, or Taiwan! This leaves few lessons and few people to talk to when we aren't teaching. I have been pondering a lot lately what it is I can do not waste the Lord's time during this slow portion of my mission. Nick helped me remember why I am here and has given me motivation to just love my mission all the time, even though we are at the bus stop for most of the week.

Yesterday was interviews with President. During interviews I was reminded that Heavenly Father loves me and is happy with my efforts. President reassured me that the desires of my heart are known by the Lord and that He knows I am discouraged with how slow things are, but that doesn't make me a bad missionary. I was surprised that I needed to hear that. Thankfully I serve under a man inspired by Heavenly Father!

This week we will be prepping Tony and Max to be baptized on January 25th! We are so excited for both of them! Tony is finally keeping the Word of Wisdom and is fully committed to the rest of the commandments. We were worried a little about Max because he didn't come to church this past Sunday and when we called him and Steven they didn't pick up. Then Sunday afternoon we get a text saying: What happen? Why you call so early?

We call Steven, Max's older brother and the first person I've taught to be baptized, and ask him why he didn't come to church. In a voice completely innocent Steven says, "Was there an activity today?" Sister Chen replied, "Of course not today is Sunday! Why did you and Max not come to church?" The phone was silent for a while and then Steven says, "Today's not Saturday? Oh my! I will repent."

Thankfully, they will both be at church this week and we are calling Saturday night to remind them what day of the week it is!

Things may be slow, but I love this gospel and I know it to be true! There is nothing I would rather be doing right now than keeping my promise to the Lord to serve a full-time mission. Promises are not always easy to keep, but the rewards are great; specially in regards to the promises we make with our loving Heavenly Father--who always blesses us more than we can imagine. All He asks is that we follow the teachings of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

New Year Same Bus Stop

First things first, I do not recommend Pig's Feet. We went over to Jesse's house for dinner because her parents wanted to cook for us before they left to go back to China. Everything was delicious! Real Chinese cuisine! We had dumpling, spicy vegetables, noodles with an amazing peanut butter sauce (who knew soy sauce and peanut butter would go so well together?), and awesome pork in amazing sauce. Then there was the pig's feet. I just couldn't handle all the fat that was on them, but I have tried them and can honestly say "no thank you" if I am ever offered them again.

This past week was amazing as we swam through the 42 degree Celsius record breaking heat and very humid air. Most of our investigators have gone back to China and Taiwan for Chinese New Year and so that meant we were GQ'ing all day everyday. Normally we have around 14 hours a week of GQ'ing, but this week we had 24 hours!

Saturday was the worst. It got up to 45 degrees Celsius and we had 7 hours scheduled for GQ'ing. To say I was a little pessimistic at the start of the day might be an understatement; but after lunch I got down on my knees and asked my Heavenly Father for the strength to get through the day with a positive attitude. I could feel the Holy Ghost feel my heart with courage as I stood up and prepared my things.

It was so hot! I felt like one of Dad's sizzling steaks on the grill. When we got to the bus stop the Elders were there as well. Usually this is a bad sign because too many missionaries at one bus stop leads to idle time, but I knew if I was going to maintain the feeling of the Holy Ghost with me all day I needed to be busy all day long. So I went over to the side of the bus stop by the bridge walkway and I stood there and said, "Hi how are you today?" to every person that walked by with my biggest smile and optimism floating on the words exiting my mouth.

As I asked this simple question to everyone, many people just nodded and kept walking; but much to my surprise and great pleasure many stopped long enough for me to ask my second question, "Where are you from?" Most said Taiwan or China and then I would start talking to them in Chinese, asking them about how they were handling the heat and if they'd ever seen missionaries before. As I began to talk to the people that paused for those couple of seconds, we began to have 4-7 minute conversations in which I could testify of Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father. I invited everyone to come to church and English Class. I was only able to get a couple of phone numbers and one potential; but that didn't matter because the feelings of the Holy Ghost were no longer within my heart but pulsating throughout my body, giving me more and more energy to just keep going all 7 hours! By the end of the night I was tired, but I felt like I could've kept going if I needed to.

That night as I was writing in my journal I flipped to the pages of Isiah and read Isiah 26:3-4 "3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.  4 Trust ye in the Lord for ever: for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength." I thought of how blessed I was to have had the strength of my Savior throughout the day and throughout my life. He understands all the pains and afflictions of Heavenly Father's children and want us to know we can always call on our Heavenly Father for help and strength. I invite all everywhere to pray to their Father in Heaven and ask for His help. I know that He will give it to you if you simply ask. I love you all and hope you strive to come closer to Heavenly Father and Christ throughout the year 2014! Happy New Year!