Hello Again!!

Yet another week's gone by Down Under!

The bush fires have been going nuts down here. They're not anywhere close to me, but the smoke travels down and covers the sky. Everything smells like campfire! So that's weird. The other day it turned the sun dark red, which was super cool! It's pretty sad actually, over 100 houses have been lost... luckily no lives though!

So the work is really getting started down here in Summer Hill. Last week Elder Han and I really cranked out the lessons, and it's starting to pay off!! Whoo hoo! One of our investigators, Angelikki (I forget if I told you about her) is getting baptized on Saturday, and she asked me to baptize her! Which I'm super excited about. Angelikki is awesome, I'm super excited for her! She wanted to get baptized ASAP after our first lesson, so we taught her every day last week and every day this week. So basically she'll be a 3-week convert, which is awesome.

I'm really starting to get to know my ward, which has been a blast. The one problem is there're a ton of islanders, which means-yep, you guessed it- they feed us all HEAPS, and boy am I packin on those pounds!! Haha but oooh it's tasty! I also found some Korean members in our ward and forced them to talk to me. All the Korean members kind of stick to themselves in our ward, so I could tell it was uncomfortable for them but I still made them practice with me. He he he. Sooner or later I'll get them to cook Korean food for me too, I'll have to let you know how that goes.

Speaking of the ward, playing piano in primary was SO MUCH FUN! I had forgotten how lively kids are! It's definitely more fun than sitting in Sunday School.. haha. They only have a keyboard and it doesn't have a pedal, so it was kind of weird to get used to at first but I  think I'm getting the hang of it. Oh and mom, there's a primary songbook in my flat so I got hold of one! No worries.

So new updates on the subtle differences in Australia:

1. They don't have single grocery stores, everything's in malls (and there are malls EVERYWHERE). Even funnier, the escalators in the malls are all giant ramps so you can get your shopping cart (aka trolley) up and down the levels. 

2. Speaking of stores, here are the stores that they have one literally every single block: Thai Massages, Beauty Salons, and Gyms. Like literally. Everywhere.

3. And the last one for the week: Every single park here is BEAUTIFUL! They keep ridiculously good care of all their parks, with fountains and benches and the whole shebang. Which is really nice cause Elder Han and I spend a ton of time finding at the parks, haha. 

Not much other news than that, haha. Doris came to church this week, she's darling as always. Every week when we meet she brings tons of treats and cakes, it's the best! Monica is still golden. She's doing everything she's supposed to, and it's so great because the gospel just makes sense to her. She's coming to church this Sunday so we'll see how it goes!

So spiritual thought for the week: just wanted to share a scripture, Alma 37:35-37. It's a great reminder :)

Thanks again for all your prayers, everyone! The work here continues to grow. I'm falling more and more in love with Australia every day. This is what we always tell our members: Remember CPR, Church, Prayer, and Reading Scriptures. Love you all and peace out!!

Elder Easton