Another Week Down Under

G'day!

It's hard to believe that I've been in Australia for nearly a month now! Holy smokes! Time sure flies, doesn't it? This week started off great because we all got a "special zone activity" for keeping our driving records clean for a month, haha. We headed down to Darling Harbour and got to see a documentary called "Hidden Universe" on the IMax screen!! It was super fun, but I felt really weird wearing normal clothes and going to a movie theater, ya know? Still fun.

So the most exciting news I have: Our investigator, Angeliki, got baptized on Saturday! It was a wonderful baptism, albeit the water was FREEZING! She was really ready though, it warmed my heart to really begin to see the fruits of our labors and to be reminded of why we do missionary work: to bring others home. Unfortunately on Saturday night, she got really sick, so she didn't come to church on Friday.. haha so she's yet to receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost! But other than that everything went smoothly.

Another update on an investigator: Doris committed to baptism this week! We taught her about the Restoration and it all made sense to her, and she said she wanted to get baptized. The Spirit was so strong during our lesson, it was incredible! Her date's set for the 23rd of November so hopefully we'll keep her getting ready for that day. 

As for other incredible teaching experiences, Elder Han and I visit this way less active family every week. During our lesson this week the Spirit was super strong, I'm convinced you could cut it with a knife. We felt super good about our lesson, like probably the best lesson we've ever had. And then a miracle occurred: after a month of visiting them, they came to church FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 10 YEARS. It was incredible- at church everyone was crying and they were crying and it was just wonderful. What a great feeling it is to rejoice in the return of our brothers and sisters!!

On Saturday night we had a ward Trunk-or-Treat party. It was a blast! I'd say it could even rival the ward parties in Utah.. hehe. I got one of the elders to hide in our trunk and when the kids would come for candy, he'd pop out and scare them. It was pretty funny. We have some kind of dreary looking pass-along cards that are in black and white and say things like "What happens after I die?" or "Will our marriage continue after we die?" and morbid stuff like that, so we passed those out to the little kids. To top it all off, I thought I was hilarious and passed out candy canes to everyone, saying "Merry Christmas!". I think I was the only one who thought I was funny, everyone else just thought I was legitimately all mixed up about the holidays. Haha.

Okay so time to talk about Sunday. It was our Ward Conference, and as such there was an enormous feed afterwards, with tons of food and ice cream and all manner of deliciousness. During Sunday School we went to the Korean class, which consists of 3 Korean women and 1 Korean man, and only one of them can speak English.. anyways they loved having us there, but I think they found a little too much joy in picking on me to do things. They kept calling on me and then smirking as I tried to read a sentence or say a thought... but hey, it was super awesome for me because it meant more practice! I actually loved going, just being able to hear them speak even though I knew maybe one word out of fifty. Little steps, right? They were all very gracious to me, however, and invited me back for next week. Hallelujah! 

So there're the highlights of my week. Most of my days so far have been studies in the morning, driving around all day either visiting members, teaching investigators, or going to the park and tracking down the Asians, then coming home and planning. Wash, rinse, repeat. I actually really like it, I'm meeting some sweet as people down here. We get fed about 3 or 4 nights a week which is super nice, oh which reminds me! There's a family who recently moved from Provo in our ward, they had us for dinner the other night and guess what they made? Homemade Cafe Rio! It was like a little taste of home. Loved it.

So time for some weekly Australian quirks:

1. Popsicles are called Iceblocks. Cilantro is Coriandor. Bell Peppers are Capsicum.

2. When there are workers working to cut trees down (like for powerlines and stuff), they put out signs that say "Tree Lopping". It just sounds really funny to me.

3. Sometimes being here feels like a blast into the past. For example the gas pumps aren't digitalized, meaning there are little number things that flip around to count how much gas you have used and then you have to pay inside. Also, credit cards must be a fairly new thing here- most places don't take them! That has really surprised me, especially for food joints and other stores. Also, no one has "Air Con" (AC) here... now I know what it feels like to grow up like Mom and Dad!!

And finally a Spiritual thought for the week. Every day we drive by a billboard sign that says "If you believe you can, you can." It has really gotten me thinking and reminded me of another quote "Whether you think you can, or you think you can't, you are right". How often do we limit ourselves because we simply think we aren't capable? I know in missionary work it's super easy to do that. Too often I've thought that I'm too new to teach well, too inexperienced to be bold with investigators, or too weak to meet high goals and expectations. But really the only things keeping me back are my own limits. The beautiful thing is that when you strive to follow the Spirit, stay close to the Lord in prayer, and read your scriptures, you can do ANYTHING! I know I'm learning every day that it's true. I challenge everyone reading this this week to take something that you feel you can't do, can't overcome, take it to the Lord and His Atonement, and then tell yourself I CAN! Because I know that indeed you can. 

Well, love you all heaps! God bless and have a great week!

Elder Easton