Times in Tamworth 22

G'day everyone!

What an incredible week it has been.

Saturday was incredible- both Jacob and Chris were baptized!! It was a very spiritual day. Elder Tavalea and I did our studies in the morning, had lunch, then spent the entire day at the chapel preparing the two services. Jacob's was at 2pm- his Grandpa came up from Canberra to baptize him. It was a great turn-out, and even Jacob's non-member mom came to see it! Certainly some big miracles. Jacob really is a light to his whole family- following his baptism, he began putting the pressure on his mom and dad to get married so they can "stop breaking the law of chastity". Haha. What a great kid! 

 Following the baptism, we began setting up for Christine's. Everything went smoothly- she showed up on time, all the speakers came, it was great. Christine asked me to baptize her, which was a really big honor. I was really nervous for some reason, but as I stood in the freezing cold water (and boy was it freezing!) I said a silent prayer and suddenly felt a whole lot warmer. As I raised my arm to the square, I really focused on the words I was saying. When I got to the part "Having been commissioned of Jesus Christ", the Spirit hit me so strong. I felt so assured that I really have been commissioned of Jesus Christ Himself- this calling, this mantle we have as missionaries, as members of the church, is so real. I don't think I ever felt as sure as I did standing in that water that we really do have the Priesthood, that this really is the Restored Church. And what a tender mercy that was.

Another highlight from Chris's baptism was the musical number. All of Matt's daughters (Matt, our investigator) have beautiful singing voices, so we asked them to do a song for the baptism. We went over a few times during the week to teach them "When I am baptized", and they did an amazing job. Everyone was so touched by the little girls all singing, and they certainly felt the Spirit. The best part is that Matt came up to us after and told us that he really wants Ruby to be baptized before the end of the transfer- he can't be baptized yet, but Ruby really wants to be and he thinks it's time. How wonderful is that?!

Earlier this week we had a trade-off with the Zone Leaders so that they could interview the baptismal candidates. I was with Elder Mauigoa, an Elder from Hawaii. It was a blast! We had some good laughs and saw some awesome miracles. We really focused on "Creating Sacred Space" as President Howes says, or basically making an uplifting environment by talking about spiritual experiences and other positive things. We took some time to dwell on what we have learned and how we have grown over the course of our missions- and it was really encouraging to realize how far I've personally come! I think for myself, I've been learning a lot more about patience, faith, and seeing everyone as who they are- a child of God. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a person and judged their response to the gospel before even asking them- and nearly every time I've been surprised by their response. I think this is so true in all aspects of life- not taking the time to find out the hearts of people, of getting to know them instead of going with how they look or what others say about them- could mean all the difference. I suppose the person who said "Don't judge a book by its cover" wasn't so far off.

As for a spiritual thought~ Saturday we woke up to stormy clouds and pounding rain. I love rain. It rained all day, and all night, and it's still raining now- I just thought it was so perfect for the baptisms. That Primary song says it just right- "I want my life to be as clean as earth right after rain". I thought about the rain in relation to the change and the cleansing that both Jacob and Chris have undergone. How indescribable it is to think that we really can be made clean, but how true it is. Just as dry, dead Tamworth can spring to life and become green again, so can even the most dismal of circumstances be made fresh, the most sinful of people be made clean- but it's only by the power of Christ, through the Atonement, that it is done. "He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him... and with his stripes,we are healed."

Lastly, an Aussieism: "on the Dole" refers to someone who is out of work, either because they truly can't find work, or they just can't be bothered. Usually it's the second. Quite often others will joke when they see someone sitting down or taking a break- "What are you, on the dole?" or "Get off the dole, get to work!". I think I even heard once, "Stop dole-in' around!".

Well, I love you all heaps! Have a great week, and enjoy that warm summer for me.

Much love,

Elder Easton

Elder Tavalea, Jacob, and I!

Elder Tavalea, Christine, and I!

Times in Tamworth 21

This has been a pretty short week!

We had our monthly conference up in Coff's Harbour this week, which is always a blast. The highway to Coff's is called "Waterfall Way", and this trip we finally lived up to the name, stopping and visiting all the waterfalls along the road. There were about 5 we got to see- Ebor Falls, Wollomumbi, Chandler, Dangar, and Sherrard Falls. Spectacular. There's no doubt I'm serving in the most beautiful mission!!

As for our investigators, we're excited for all that's happening:

Chris- She's on date for this Saturday! Hallelujah! We taught Law of Chastity and Temples this week, and she's ready to go. Patrick still wants to be baptized, but he hasn't come to church yet, which is a pain. We're hoping to get him there and baptized within the next few weeks. Chris continues to amaze Elder Tavalea and I, though- on Tuesday she told us some exciting news. After church last week she went to work and shifted her roster around so she wouldn't have to work on Sundays anymore. Sundays pay double for the work, so she switched her 4-hour Sunday shift for an 8-hour Saturday shift to get the same amount of pay. The most incredible part? We didn't even ask her to do that! I have no doubt that Chris is so ready for this commitment to her Savior. Please continue to pray she'll stay on date for the 16th!

Jacob- Jacob's the 9 year old we're teaching, and he's just plain great. He's also getting baptized on Saturday, and his Grandpa is coming up from Canberra to baptize him. Our vision is that Jacob's baptism will be the propellant to get his father back into full activity (He's having a hard time giving up some of the Word of Wisdom) and to interest his mother to investigate about the church. There's a lot riding on it, so I hope we'll maximize the experience!

Matt- He's still feeding us every week, and this week we gave him a triple combination Book of Mormon- Doctrine and Covenants- Pearl of Great Price. He was so excited to have it! He's really been delving into studying the scriptures, and you can tell he's really feasting on the words. Words of the Prophet in action!

English class is going well- 2 more faces last week! It keeps growing and growing, which certainly puts the pressure on the lesson! We usually have Tyson and Adam come help with it, which is a big relief for me. We didn't have any of them come to church this week, but we've got some plans to get them a little more intrigued about the church. Lots of work to do!

Overall, Elder Tavalea and I are really geared up for the rest of the month. We had a zone fast yesterday and are really striving to become "escalator missionaries" instead of "elevator missionaries"(as in moving many people up towards baptism, instead of one at a time). 

For a spiritual thought, I'd like to talk a moment about my experience fasting. A few weeks ago, a lady in the ward gave a talk about fasting. She said everytime she feels hungry or thinks about food, she treats it as a reminder and says a prayer about whatever it is she is fasting for. The past 3 times I've fasted, I decided to try that, and holy smokes it's made a huge difference in my day. It goes from a day of starvation to a truly spiritually uplifting experience. I think it's helped me understand a bit more the purpose of fasting. I suppose all of you should give it a try next time you fast! It really has changed my attitude completely about fasting.

Aaand as for an Aussieism, take this one in: "A Yarn". What do you think it could mean? Here's how the Aussies would use it: "Come over and have a yarn", or "Oh I'm sorry, I'm not really in the mood for a yarn today", or even "I've got heaps of time. Let's just relax and have a yarn". Guessed it yet? A yarn means to have a chat, or just sort of "shoot the breeze" as we might say. A lot of these country bumpkins out here live a slower pace- and really enjoy having "yarns" with us. Especially the old folks of Tamworth, they'll "have a yarn" and hear out our message! It's funny though, because with the accent it sounds like they're saying "yawn", but I double and triple checked that it's "yarn". So there's that.

Well I love you all heaps and hope you have a great week!

Elder Easton

Times in Tamworth 20

Happy Hump Day!

It's crazy to think last year I begun this journey... I still feel so fresh! It was a good year mark, Elder Tavalea and I went out to eat at Hog's Breath (it's kind of like Chile's or Applebee's) so thank you Mom and Dad for buying dinner for us... haha. While eating there we got a man to take our picture and he actually used to live in Virginia, and his next door neighbors were Mormons. Small world, hey? He had really good things to say about them, and we had a nice chat. Unfortunately he was just up for the weekend from Canberra and was leaving the next day. It goes to show, however, that we are all representing the church to our non-member friends, no matter if we realize it or not!

Our Investigators continue to progress. 

 Chris/Amanda/Patrick: We've had a great week with them. We actually saw them twice this week, and taught the Word of Wisdom and Tithing/Law of the Fast. I was so so soooooo nervous to teach the Word of Wisdom, I honestly thought it might be something they wouldn't be willing to give up. Well the lesson went perfectly, from the fellowship to the feelings of Chris and her family, and they accepted it without any second thoughts. How amazing! They truly are being prepared. It's taught me to never feel like the standards of our Church or the commandments are a burden or are too much for anyone. When we have a pure testimony, and know the Book of Mormon is true, the rest just makes sense. I am so grateful that Chris and her family have felt that pure testimony in themselves, and nothing will hinder them from progression.

The other wonderful thing about Chris- she came to church yesterday! MIRACLES! And the best part? She loved it! Patrick is sick with a pretty bad flu, so we understood why he didn't make it, but seriously it was a huge step for Chris to make it to church. We're so excited!

Matt: What a good bloke. He fed us again this week, and we had a stellar lesson about the vision of the Tree of Life. For dinner Elder Tavalea and I made Otai, this delicious watermelon drink from Tonga. Yum! Matt is continuing to blow us away, and he asked if next week we could study more about the Doctrine and Covenants. He is going to make the best member ever.

Jacob: He is still the best little boy ever. We moved the baptism to the 16th, but he doesn't want to share the baptism with anyone so we'll be having two services that day! It's gonna be hectic!

Amy: We're not sure what's going on with Amy. She's been dodging us lately so we'll have to let you know next week what's happening with her. We hope she'll still keep her baptism date!

As for the English class, we had 2 new Taiwanese at the class on Saturday, Wilson and Eason. They are really funny, and made the class a blast. They also came to church and brought their friend, Hero! We had a full Gospel Principals class, it was awesome.

The Curious case of Wayne Wynne. This week we taught Wayne, a less-active, about the Plan of Salvation. It was all going really well until we got to the kingdoms of glory, and Wayne took it as an opportunity to rant on about wars and government corruption and some pretty off-color stuff... needless to say it stuck out to Elder Tavalea and I that he was probably feeling the Spirit and it made him uncomfortable, and so he did something to drive the Spirit away. Isn't that so sad, to be in a place where feeling the Spirit is uncomfortable for you? As missionaries we actually like it when investigators and less-actives lose the Spirit when we leave and they recognize it, because it helps them see what they're lacking and that what we teach-what we represent- does make a difference, and a positive one at that.

Just one last miracle I'd like to share- we went out to dinner on Friday for a member's birthday, and there was no more parking in the car park so we just went into the shopping center's parking next door. Well we didn't realize until the member told us at dinner that we had to pay for that car park- however as we were driving out of it, the gate was just open and we got out without paying! Yahoo! The Lord really does watch out for us :)

For a spiritual thought, I'd just like to mention how blessed we are to have the Priesthood, and to have it in our homes. Yesterday Elder Tavalea and I were called to go out to Moore Creek and give a little Primary boy a blessing. It took us about 45 minutes to get out there, and we were able to give the boy a blessing and get on our way. But imagine if we hadn't been able to go up, or if no one in the ward was able to go? The mother is a member, but is married to a non-member and it just broke my heart to think about all the blessings and support her family is missing out on because of the lack of Priesthood in the home. I'm so very grateful to hold the Priesthood myself and to use it to bless other people, but I also want to always be a worthy holder of it so I can minister over my own family, and take care of them. How blessed I've been to have been raised in a home where the Priesthood was always there.

And lastly, an Aussieism. Just a quick follow-up for last week's: We bought toilet paper with trivia and facts printed on it, and one of the TP facts shed some more light on the toilets of Oz: "In 1980 Bruce Thompson invented the dual flush toilet to help Australia save water". Just so you know it wasn't "crap"... hehe.

And on a cleaner note, the Aussieism for this week has to do with another household item- plugs. Besides a different looking plug head, something that is interesting is that all outlets actually have a switch next to them which turn them on and off. Australia is all about saving energy!

Well I love you all heaps and hope you have a great week,

Elder Easton

I'm Fair Dinkum.... Times in Tamworth 19

The verdict is in.... another transfer in Tamworth! I am actually really really excited about this. We have a lot going on right now, and it looks like I'll get to stay to be a part of it! I'm still with Elder Tavalea as well, which is great. 6 more weeks, here we go!

The work is progressing like wildfire here in Tamworth. Here's an update on some of our investigators:

Matt- What a beaut. He is still coming along well. His family has decided to start feeding us weekly, which is a huge blessing and a great opportunity to begin teaching and inviting the family. Another great part? One of his daughters has begun inviting friends over to the dinners as well, and we've been teaching the friends as well. It works out pretty well because they are all in the same circle as one of the young men in our ward, Montell. Miracles!

Amy- She's still on date for August 16th. We taught the Plan of Salvation this week and she really liked it. Unfortunately she didn't make it to church (seems to be the snag for most people), but we still have a few more weeks to help her get into that habit before her baptism.

Chris/Amanda/Patrick- We didn't get a chance to see them this week, but on Saturday we got Chris and Patrick to the ward party, which they really enjoyed. Chris had to work on Sunday, and Patrick tried to come to church but didn't make it until after church was finished. Too bad. There is some great news with Patrick, however; he's been telling his friend, Tyler, about the church and the Book of Mormon, and on Saturday Tyler came to the ward party as well. Anyhow Tyler came up to us that night and said "Pat's been telling me about you guys, and I was wondering if I could get baptized?". Does it get any better than that? The Lord is truly preparing His pastures. We're seeing Tyler tomorrow, and we're hoping to get him baptized with Pat and his family. That would be really special. Where there's a will, there's a way, right?

Jacob- Jake's the soon-to-be-9-year old we're teaching. We shared the Restoration with him, and holy smokes he blew us away. For only having been to church for a few months, he already knew the entire lesson and even shared his testimony with us. He loves church and loves learning about Jesus... he's really an example and reminder to me about the Lord's admonition to "Becometh as a child". I hope one day to be like Jake. The highlight of the lesson was definitely an insightful comment from Jake: "During scripture in school, they teach us that God and Jesus Christ are the same person, but I know that's not true". He already has a strong enough testimony and understanding to tell when the Christian teachers are teaching false doctrine! He's a pretty admirable kid, that's for sure.

Colin- So Colin is new on the scene. He's a former investigator we picked up, and this week he accepted the commitment to be baptized August 30th! Wo-hoo! He is a cute little man, he's a bit mentally handicapped but has a heart of gold and really desires to be baptized. We cleared it with our President and are working with the bishop to see to it that Colin is ready for baptism, but we're confident we'll be able to get him there. Exciting times!

Overall, Elder Tavalea and I think it's safe to say that the Lord is blessing us immensely. Who knew there could be this much work in Tamworth? It reminds me of Jacob 5, the allegory of the Master and the vineyard. The Master tells the servants to plant in the nethermost part of the vineyard, on the poorest and driest spot of land. Well the servants are confused but do it anyway, and the tree flourishes. When the servants ask him what happened, the Master essentially responds that He knew it was a poor spot, and yet nourished and blessed it to become the tree it is today. Elder Tavalea and I are certainly seeing that promise, that real-life application come to fruition in Tamworth. I'm learning that in missionary work, and I can assume for life, that it doesn't really matter where you go, but what you do. As a missionary, we need to do our very best no matter what part of the vineyard we're in, and the Lord will nourish that which He will.

This week the English class went off well. Tyson and Adam came to help, and Alex from Taiwan came as well as two new faces, Gaston and Maria from Argentina! It was a bit tricky because Alex's English is very basic and Gaston and Maria's is super advanced, but we made the most of it and I think it turned out fairly well. After the class we invited them all to the ward party, which they all came to! 

Speaking of the ward party, it was a great activity. The theme was Christmas in July, and the American couple here was in charge of it- they set up a 9ft tall Christmas Tree they got from Taipan Trading, and it looked fit for the Festival of Lights, no joke! The food was wonderful, and it was even cold and rainy to get that real wintry-feel going. We had a great turn-out, including several less-actives and 8 investigators, which was a huge miracle! The best part of the evening was Greg, one of our investigators (the one that comes every week, but needs to get married first). We asked him to take us to pick up Chris and Patrick, and he jumped at the occasion, taking several opportunities throughout the night to bear his testimony to them, and invite them to various things. It was all a missionary could ask for- a "normal person" sharing and solidifying what we've been teaching and inviting them to do. What a huge blessing for Chris and Pat's progression.

Saturday night was topped off with Elder and Sister Killebrew, office missionaries who came up to drop off some things for us- new mattresses, a slow cooker, rice cooker, a kitchen table, several other appliances and tools, and two packages from home!! Hallelujah! It truly felt like Christmas. 

And I would just like to mention that yesterday I cooked my first ever pork roast, and I didn't fail! Miracles!

For an Aussieism, I would just like to briefly mention a cool thing about la toilette. Now I still haven't figured out if they flush round the other way because I forget which way they go in America, but one interesting thing is they don't have flush-handle-things, but two buttons on top of the toilet. At first it really confused me because I was never quite sure which button to push, but I found out they are for water conservation and one button is for a light flush and the other button, a more full flush... so basically a flush for number 1 and a flush for number 2. I thought that was pretty funny. Hey, it's all for the environment, right?

Well I love you all and hope you enjoy the sweltering heat!

Elder Easton

Photo: check out that dinner! Yum!

Times in Tamworth 18

This has been a great week! I am really loving working with Elder Tavalea. We get along really well, and the work is truly pushing forward. This week I was able to check a few things off the Australian bucket list. On Monday we went hiking up the Moonbi Mountains, and we saw and even touched an echidna! That was not even the best part- the member with us took us up a hidden way to look at some ancient Aboriginal hieroglyphics. It was incredible. The paintings are estimated to be over 1,000 years old, and all the people that live in the Moonbi's are keeping it mum because they don't want it excavated out and put in a museum. So I was definitely lucky to get to see it. You know how the Grinch's heart grew three sizes at once? Well that's definitely how I felt about my stomach last week. In an effort to help us experience even more Aussie things, a less-active member fed us twice in one day- for lunch, we had Emu egg! and for dinner, Ox Tail soup. The Egg was actually pretty nice, although the Ox Tail was a bit too chewy for me. Following those massive feeds, we had another dinner with our investigator, Matt- we were really blessed to have so much food that day, but boy was I stuffed! Speaking of Matt, here's an update on our current investigators: Matt: He's going awesome. We had his whole family in the living room for the first time, which was a miracle considering Matt's biggest concern is having his family not follow his footsteps in the church. We had a great evening and invited them to the Ward Party this Saturday, and they all committed to come! Chris, Amanda and Patrick: We've had a struggle with them this week. They were originally meant to be baptized on July 26th, but they still haven't come to church and so we had to push it back to August 16th. Still exciting that they want to be baptized, but it was especially difficult because we saw them Saturday night and they promised to come to church, but then yesterday they never showed up... but that's okay! We won't give up hope. It's all in the Lord's plan, right? We had a great time with them on Saturday though, they fed us a nice dinner, then we played some trivia games and ended the night with a lesson. Memorable for sure :) Amy: Amy is a 16 year old girl that is currently living in a refuge. She met one of our members who was staying there as well, and the member has been teaching her about church and bringing her to church for about a month. Anyhow we set a baptismal date for August 16th with her!! Hooray! We're really excited for how she's progressing, and feel blessed to get to teach her. Speaking of baptisms, we had a missionary miracle of sorts this week- A Less-Active member has been coming back to church for about 6 months now, and has an 8 year old son who desperately wants to be baptized. Well the son, Jacob, set the date himself to be baptized the day before his 9th birthday. Well his Grandpa is baptizing him, and can't make it until the following weekend, so Jacob will be 9 when he's baptized... which means he'll be a convert baptism, aka he'll be a missionary baptism! Heck yeah! It was great for us because it means he gets to be our investigator and we get to teach him now, which will be really fun! This week Heavenly Father taught me a lesson about faith and preparation. We have been advertising for English Class for about a month and nobody has ever come, so this week I didn't even bother preparing a lesson because I didn't think we'd have anyone to teach. Well lo and behold, Heavenly Father sent me some humility in the form of Alex! We were just about to pack up when we saw someone pull into the Church car park and met Alex, a young man from Taiwan, who knew almost no English. I did my best as a fumbled through an impromptu English lesson, then we invited him to come to church because it'd be more English practice- and he came! I'm humbled to know the Lord blesses us even when we're doubting. I will definitely hope for the best from now on!! Overall, we can really feel the work begin to hasten. It makes us missionaries so happy when we have people to teach- and the Lord has certainly been blessing us with that. I feel as a missionary, the most important thing we can be doing is aligning ourselves to Heavenly Father. That means everyday I have to constantly remind myself to be exactly, freely obedient, and to remember why. It also means being completely in tune with the Spirit. It's certainly a refining process, and I've got a whole lot more to do, but I'm so grateful to see how everyday the Lord is molding my companion and I from awkward, uncertain boys into powerful teachers of Jesus Christ. I am so so thankful to be a part of it. For a spiritual thought, Elder Tavalea and I have been reading together and teaching a lot from Mosiah 18. It's about the Waters of Mormon and the people Alma baptized there. I particularly like verse 30- it's talking about how the people will forever cherish the Waters of Mormon, because they'll remember it's there that they covenanted with the Father through baptism. I think it explains perfectly how we missionaries feel about every area we get to serve in. I love it. And an Aussieism. Because it's been getting freezing cold here, we have been invited over for roast dinners more and more often and I've discovered a few things. First, Australians call squash pumpkin. Like instead of roasted butternut squash, it's butternut pumpkin. Secondly, I don't know if it's only me who had never had this, or if it's not really American, but in Australia when they cook a pork roast they make crackling or crackle, which is the pork skin rubbed over and over in oil and salt and baked.. holy smokes it's good! It tastes like bacon but a million times better... yum. Well I love you all heaps and hope you have a great week! Transfers is coming up this next week, so the next time I email I'll know- I hope hope hope I stay in Tamworth with Elder Tavalea. I love it here! Talk to you soon, Elder Easton

Times in Tamworth 17

G'day everyone,

This has been an eventful week. First things first, the trio has been extinguished... it was so short lived! Elder Ripley got a phone callSaturday night saying President was emergency transferring him to Cessnock (about 3 hours south) and that Elder Tavalea and I will be continuing the work in Tamworth. So this morning we sent Elder Ripley on a train and now here we are!! It's been a good 4 and a half months with Elder Ripley, but I am super excited to be with Elder Tavalea. Our flat was pretty small, so it'll be nice to have just two of us again :) 

This week we had some fun adventures. We went up to Moonbi last p-day, a small town about 30 minutes away. We had a big campfire, roasted sausages and marshmallows, and went hiking around the mountains. I even got to see some boxing kangaroos! I can check that off the list now.

A huge miracle in the form of two investigators came as well. We tracted into a mom and daughter, Kathy and Elizabeth, about 2 months ago. Well they were never home when we'd come for a return visit so we kind of dropped them, but then this week we felt prompted to go visit them again. Well to our happy surprise they were home, let us in, and we had an awesome gospel conversation for the better part of an hour! The Lord is preparing His children.
 

Update on Chris, Amanda and Patrick. They didn't come to church again, which was pretty disappointing. We'll be seeing them this week to see what the next step is- Elder Tavalea and I are fasting for them on Friday to know what we can do as their missionaries to best help them. Please keep them in your prayers!

On Friday and Saturday we had a Zone Training and Special Zone Conference up in Coffs Harbour. We went to a trampoline place and then had a barbeque, followed with beach soccer in the sand. Needless to say I was so sore I had to lift my leg to change from the gas to brake pedal, haha. It was a nice conference, and it's heaps warmer in Coffs than down in Tamworth. I love it up there!

Because Elder Ripley was heading out today, we spent Sunday visiting the people he most wanted to say goodbye to. At church we caught a glimpse of Tamworth's potential- there was a baby blessing, and both sets of families were massive. For the first and probably only time, we saw the chapel full! It was awesome! That's certainly the vision we have for the Tamworth ward, to get back to that size... and they'll get there :)

 Anyhow we went around town and visited some investigators, less-actives and members that Elder Ripley really got on with. Probably the highlight of the evening was visiting Matt, one of our investigators that's working on getting married. For the first time, his whole family (including his partner) came into the living room while we were there, and we talked and played for a bit. As it got time to leave, we sang them some songs. First we sang "I am a Child of God". We had Elder Ripley sing the first verse, then Elder Tavalea sing a verse in Tongan, and then I sang a verse in Korean. We then sang the chorus together in English. The Spirit was radiating. Nobody wanted to talk- we all just sort of sat there and soaked it in. The three of us elders and Tyson Laga'aia (The member out with us) then stood and sang "God be with you til we meet again" and the Spirit was just magnificent. We all had a group hug and then knelt down together in prayer. It was a simple experience, and yet powerful. I remember walking to the car and just feeling good. We are really excited about that, because it's the first time we got to be with the entire family, and we know that they all felt the Spirit. We're having dinner with them this week so we'll get to be with the whole family again! Yes!!

Overall, a pretty good (and hectic) week. I'm sad to see Elder Ripley go; I've grown probably more with him than with any other companion. We worked really well together, and saw a lot of miracles. I'm really excited though to see all that's in store for Elder Tavalea and I: maybe I'll even pick up some Tongan while I'm at it!

For a Spiritual thought, read 2 Nephi 32:9. This was the scripture I always turned to before a big test, or a performance, or anything I was nervous or worried about. I now turn to it whenever we go to a lesson that we really need to do well on, or when I have to step out of my comfort zone to do something. It's a very real comfort to know that when I'm doing something, if I do my best and make sure that it is appropriate in the sight of the Lord, then I will always have His support.

And lastly, an Aussieism. Most Aussies don't like chips (or fries) with any sauce- rather the choice of flavor is to pound Chicken Salt all over it. It's actually pretty good, although I found out that Chicken Salt is basically all the ground up leftovers of the chickens. All in the name of taste, right?

Well I love you all heaps and hope you enjoy the heat for me!

Elder Easton

Times in Tamworth 16

Hello Again!

Another One Bites the Dust.

Last week Adam made the commitment to his Father in Heaven and was baptized!! It was a wonderful evening. Adam was so prepared and more than ready to join the church, I am so grateful that I have been able to play a part on his journey. Honestly, it's been the hard efforts of 5 years worth of missionaries to get him to that point, and I am so so thankful for every one of those elders! The service went really well, we had some good speakers and Tyson, Adam's friend, did the baptizing. To top the night off Sister Laga'aia, Tyson's mom, prepared a massive feast for all of us in celebration of Adam. Seriously it could have been Christmas Dinner... so good! All in all it was the highlight of the week, and one of the best days on my mission. My heart was just so full of warmth- even now I'm still excited, just thinking about Adam and his future in the church.

Speaking of news, there've been some exciting changes! One of the Elders in Taree (A town in our zone) had to go home for emergency surgery for a hernia or something, which left his companion, well, companionless. President Howes must've been inspired, because he sent the other elder up here to be in a trio with Elder Ripley and I for the rest of the transfer! I'm really excited about this- our new companion's name is Elder Tavalea, and he comes straight from the island of Tonga! He's really funny and very nice, and also likes to eat a lot.. haha. The first day our fridge was cleared- so I'm expecting to be buying a lot more food soon! He's a great missionary though, and we're looking forward to all the work we can now accomplish with more opportunities for splits, etc.

In other events of the week, we had a superb lesson with Chris, Amanda and Patrick. We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the spirit was very strong. Chris expressed how her kids were never baptized and she wanted them to make the decision for themselves when they were old enough- and sure enough, they decided it was time! We committed them to be baptized on July 26th, which is really soon.. but they accepted! It was a really joyful lesson, for sure. They're really excited to be baptized, and they all even downloaded the Book of Mormon on their phones.. without us even suggesting it! Miracles! They did commit to come to the baptism and to church, but we didn't see them at either, which is a little disappointing. We're hoping to follow up this week and get them back on track. Still, very exciting!

And good ole Matt. He's just awesome. We taught Tithing and Fast Offerings this week, which he didn't have a problem with. He also hasn't had a beer since we've been seeing him, which has been about 6 weeks. So that was a miracle in and of itself! The best of all is that Matt asked us to bring Bishop with us to the lesson this week- he wants to talk to him about getting married to his partner. To top it all off, Matt and his daughter Ruby came to the baptism and really enjoyed the experience. They both told us afterwards they can't wait until they're baptisms. Ah does it get any better than that?!

So you could say it's been a baptism-focused week... which is about all you can ask for as a missionary! I feel so blessed by the Lord, and am grateful that He's using us to progress His work in Tamworth.It is so real, and I'm forever thankful to be a part of it!

For a spiritual thought I'd like to mention something one of the speakers said at the baptism. When a child is born, two fluids are very prominent: water and blood. Similarly, when Christ performed the Atonement, we know he bled from every pore.. and when he hung on the cross, the soldiers pierced his side and out came the last of his blood, and then water. That is significant because when we are baptized we often say we are "reborn" or receive "new life". Well just as a child is brought into the world through water and blood, it's the blood and water of Christ's Atonement that makes baptism possible, that makes the cleansing effect real. No wonder then that we are baptized in water, or that we take water every week in the sacrament as an emblem of his blood. 

And lastly, an Aussieism. It's basically impossible to stop at or speed through a yellow light in Australia... because they're actually called Amber or Orange lights here. Australian's must have different eye sight because it still looks pretty yellow to me. Just sayin.

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

Love Elder Easton

oh p.s. HAPPY FOURTH! 

Photos:

Tyson, Me, and Adam at the Baptism.

All of us: Elder Tavalea, Tyson, Adam, Elder Ripley, and me!

Dinner at the Laga'aias! Yum!!

Times in Tamworth 15

Well hello again!

The cold winds and the frost have come... and with it, several places in Oz have started to snow! It hasn't snowed in Tamworth since 1984, but hey, there are always miracles!!

Besides the bone-chilling weather, Tamworth has continued to be the best place ever to serve.

This week we had lunch at the Greens- Brother Green is the one who recently lost his wife. Anyways he used to own a pizza/burger joint, and still has the knack for making the best burgers in the world. He made us his famous "Super Stud Burger" and boy was it delicious- it had all the classic Australian toppings, from beetroot to fried egg, and his special ingredient- french fries!! Needless to say it was a burger to match the likes of Five Guy's... and that's saying something.

Besides gorging myself on giant burgers, we also had a trade-off with the Zone Leaders this week. I was with Elder Bardsley; he's from Perth. Awesome elder. The exchange was pretty great, and my favorite part was the evaluation at the end. Now usually they are the most awkward part- those evaluations are a time for the leader to chastise the missionary on disobedience or other problems, and if there is no big issues or anything, then when it come times to suggest an improvement, it becomes a period of silence and, well, awkwardness- but Elder Bardsley provoked a conversation that made the evaluation a lot more meaningful. When the question came from him- "What can I do to improve?", the usual response followed- "Uh, I dunno. You did everything really well". He then said something that really hit me- "Well what didn't I do that the Savior would've?" It made me think a little more. We hadn't done anything wrong or bad, but I'm pretty positive that the Savior would've done it better. Since that's so, we talked about ways we could improve not only WHAT we do but HOW we do it- the refining process isn't just meant to turn bad from good, but good to best. Since then, I've been thinking more about what it means to have the name of Jesus Christ on my badge- to really and truly to my best to represent Him in all I do. It has definitely put a lot more meaning into my missionary activities.

In the latter half of the week we had zone conference down in Newcastle! It had been cancelled for us due to the long drive, but they called last minute and told us to reschedule things so we could come. It was a blast! I'm not sure which felt weirder- to see more missionaries, or to drive down a road with cars in front of and behind me, and to have to wait at stoplights.. it just felt wrong. I remember driving through Newcastle on the way to Tamworth at transfers and thinking how small and bogan that town was. It's so funny to realize that now I feel like Newcastle is HUGE! I can't even imagine what it would've been like to be back down in Sydney, haha.

The Conference was wonderful. It was on June 27, which was the anniversary of the Martyrdom of Joseph Smith. For the musical item, our zone sang "Joseph Smith's First Prayer" to the tune of "Come Thou Fount". On the 3rd verse we hummed while an Elder recited the First Vision. The spirit truly was manifest- it was a powerful feeling to sing about Joseph, and about the Restoration. It confirmed to me again the truthfulness of the gospel, and how grateful and amazed I am that a man such as Joseph Smith died so that we could hear and embrace the message of the Restored gospel. I'm so thankful to be able to show that appreciation by sharing the message with everyone here. How blessed we are.

On Sunday we brought the sacrament to the Greens and had another great visit. We were talking to Michelle, Brother Green's daughter, about her mom and the spirit world. Michelle mentioned that my Grandma was probably looking all over for Michelle's mom, Sister Green, so she could ask Sister Green about me and how I was doing on my mission, since Sister Green is probably the most recent person to have met me that is now on the other side of the veil. As Michelle said that, it pricked my heart and made me feel really warm. I believe that what Michelle said is true, and it made me feel very quietly happy.

For a spiritual thought, I'd like to invite you to take a look at Mosiah 5. It talks about baptism- how they made a covenant with God and are now "Children of Christ".  Becoming a child of Christ involves not only taking upon yourself His name, and the responsibility of upholding that name- but also the promise that you will take upon yourself the characteristics of Christ, that quite literally you will be able to more freely develop Christlike attributes. Everyone who's been baptized is entitled to that spiritual strength.

And lastly, an Aussieism: I'm not sure if I've already mentioned this, but Australia has HEAPS of "Big Brother Cameras" aka speed cameras. They're all over and sneakily take pictures to determine if you're speeding or not. There's only 1 in Tamworth so they haven't really bothered me, but going down to Newcastle I realized how many more there are! Not that I speed or anything... but it can be annoying, for sure. They're always watching!

Love you all and have a great week,

Elder Easton

Times in Tamworth 14

G'day, chups.

This has been, as always, a very eventful week! I'll start off with some of our investigators:

Matt- ah he's the best. We taught the Law of Chastity this week, and committed him to get married to his partner... which he accepted!! I hear those wedding bells...

Adam- His baptism is still pushing forward. He didn't make it to church yesterday which is a little worrisome, but he still looks good for the 5th.

Chris/Amanda/Patrick- Amanda had her 18th birthday this week, and they invited us to her birthday party. We were a little skeptical (mostly because 18 is the legal drinking age in Australia...) but went along anyhow, and had a great time. We found out Chris's best friend was baptised down in Mount Druitt a long time ago, and used to feed the missionaries all the time. She's strayed off the path a little but still believes it's true. The best part is she's been telling Chris about the church, and thankfully it's been all good things instead of anti, like I initially thought it might've been. It really just testified to me that the Lord prepares His children- it's really not a coincidence that Chris met us, and her best friend's a Less-Active... ah this church is just so true!

Richard- haha, I include Richard because it was a very memorable experience. Richard is an "eternigator", aka he is never progressing. He is a hard-core Christian, and has some deep-rooted doctrinal issues regarding our church. He is very respectful though, and usually we'll go meet with him and leave an hour later, not having gotten anywhere. Anyhow this week we saw him and brought the doctrinal-master of our ward, Brother Barratt. We had a pretty good discussion about authority and priesthood and prophets and what not... but at some point along the discussion my companion disagreed with Richard, and soon enough a blood bath of bible bashing ensued. Well I was completely lost in the conversation, and just stayed frigid in my seat as they yelled... When it went quiet after the argument stopped, they both looked at me and I had no idea what to do- so I forced the most awkward smile I could and complemented the tasty water. When in doubt, smile out. Needless to say we weren't invited back.. but hey, I'm okay with that!

Some other fun things that happened this week included going to the YM/YW's progressive dinner on Wednesday. Two of our Less-Actives, Andrea and Helena, came which was a big blessing. You all will be surprised to hear that for the appetizer we had cheese-and-vegemite pastries, and to even my own astonishment, I ate AND ENJOYED them... what the heck is this mission doing to me?!!? 

Yesterday I had a really cool experience with the sacrament. As I sang the sacrament hymn, I really tried to focus on the words I was singing. I've been studying the Atonement the past few weeks and pondered what I'd been learning, trying to put in practice what the scriptures and prophets have told us. I decided just to try- to put my full faith that the sacrament would cleanse me. As I took the bread, I reflected on my own memory of being baptised and the feelings I had watching other baptisms throughout my mission, and imagined going down into the water again. It was so incredible. I literally felt a washing come, a purifying- and then I suddenly couldn't wait for the water. It was like my body knew it needed to be complete, and the water would finish the ordinance. What a wonderful feeling it was to take those emblems and to really actually experience what we teach our investigators- that sacrament can be a transformational experience.

Later in the day, Elder Ripley and I went to visit the Davison's, a older couple in the ward with a disabled daughter. This was the first Sunday ever that every single one of them had to miss church in as long as they can remember, and they were pretty upset about it. They were all just simply too unwell to go. Humbly and with tears in their eyes, they asked for an Administration. I was the voice for two of the blessings, Sister Davison and their daughter, Kelly, and both times as I said their blessings I heard distinct words come to my mind. I think that's the first time it's happened, but I really felt guided by the Spirit. It was so cool, like I was receiving revelation right then and there! I was certainly humbled and blessed by the experience, it's really built my faith on the power and authority of the Priesthood which we bear.

As for a Spiritual Thought, take some time to ponder Hymn 26, "Joseph Smith's First Prayer". This week at Zone Conference, our Zone will be doing a musical item of those words to the tune of "Come Thou Fount"- it's actually quite beautiful- but anyhow as I've been reading and re-reading those words this past week they've really just stuck out to me of how powerful and true they are. My favorite verse is 3- how it describes the light descending, the Lord appearing. In our song that's when we all hum and someone recites the First Vision. I'm really excited for it! 

And, of course, the Aussieism. You'd be hard-pressed to find any ground beef or hamburger in Australia- instead they call it "mince". At first I really hated the word, it sounded like the meat was all different organs grinded together- but it's actually grown on me. I didn't actually realise until we had dinner with the American Missionary Couple a few weeks back how weird a name "hamburger" actually is for raw beef- where's the ham, anyhow?!

Well, love you all heaps, and have a great week in the warmth- we're supposed to get our first frost this week. Time to break out the winter gear!

Elder Easton

Photo: The YM/YW's activity

Times in Tamworth 13

 Hello everyone,

Transfer details are in! And the verdict is... I'm staying in Tamworth! Whoo hoo! This means I'll be here for Adam's baptism, which I'm super excited about. My companion, Elder Ripley, is also staying! Which will make it 3 transfers together- the longest companion I've had so far! In fact, it's pretty crazy, but our entire zone stayed exactly the same for this transfer- a pretty unusual thing in our mission.

Speaking of unusual, last week we had one of the rarest days a missionary can have- everything we planned for actually followed through! Miracles! It was probably the first time on my mission we didn't have to revert to back-up plans at some point during the day, so it was very exciting. Some people and experiences we saw that day which were pretty awesome:

1. Jessica. Jessica is the lady from the Philippines, and she has a very very strong testimony of Jesus Christ. We taught her the Restoration, and it went really well. She seemed to accept it, but when we offered the Book of Mormon to her, she refused. She said she respects and doesn't disregard that the Restoration might be true, but she's happy with her faith as it is, and the way she is. It was a great lesson, but a bit disappointing. It's so hard to see someone who you know could be receiving so many more blessings if they only tried the gospel, but for pride or laziness or whatever choose not to. I guess that's the point of agency- sometimes choice stinks! I definitely get a glimpse of parenthood when I KNOW the choice these people SHOULD make, and yet no matter what I do, can't seem to get them to make that choice... Haha.

2. Chris, Patrick, and Amanda. Can words even describe? We taught the Plan of Salvation and committed them to baptism when they know this message is true, to which they accepted! That's not even the best part. When we inquired on their Book of Mormon reading, 15 year old Patrick said he reads a page every night before bed, and his mom, Chris, is already to Alma. That was a huge miracle. I find as a missionary that one of the most difficult things is helping people gain a desire to read the Book of Mormon- clearly this family already has that down. As Chris says everytime we meet, "Everything happens for a reason!"

3. The Weldon family. Brother Weldon is a Less-Active member, and invited us over for dinner. After we ate, he got his 4 grandchildren, ages 15-22, none of whom are baptised, to come have a lesson with us. The Spirit was filling the room as we taught the Restoration. It was incredible. The best part? They all agreed to meet up again next week!

4. The rarest day ever ended with a lesson with Adam. Adam is just plain amazing. We taught him the commandments, Word of Wisdom, Chastity, Tithing- not a single qualm about any of them. He is just so ready. We finished rather quickly, so we practiced the baptism with Tyson and Adam, from the prayer to the actions and motions. He's the most prepared investigator I've ever met!

Other news of the week: on Tuesday, we had one of our ward members pass away from a long battle with cancer, Maria Green. Her funeral was on Friday, so we went and helped out with that. It was a lovely service, and people from all over the community came- it filled not only our usually empty chapel, but the overflow and rec hall as well. It was a beautiful service. From a missionary perspective, it was rather astounding and warmed my heart to hear Maria's beliefs echoed throughout the service- every speaker was teaching and testifying of the Restoration and Plan of Salvation, in front of members and non-members alike. It made me extremely grateful as I remembered similar feelings I've had as I've lost loved ones, and the immense peace and comfort that comes only from the gospel. How lucky am I to get to share that with people all day, every day?!

For a spiritual thought, I'd invite you to look up online the poem "The Race" by Dee Groberg. It's too long to type out, but a member gave a copy to me and I absolutely love it.

And to end on an Aussieism, it took me a long time to figure out what these Aussies were saying- when talking about food, usually fast food or other fattening things, they say "Gree-zee" (Greasy), with a super hard "z", instead of the softer "Gree-sea" we say. It sounds like a small difference, but it actually sounds like a completely different word.

Love you heaps!

Elder Easton

Photo: The Small Girls made Elder Ripley and I a cake. Yum!

Times in Tamworth 12

Hello again, everyone!

 

It's just hit me that it was one year ago I graduated high school. Holy smokes, how time flies...! It literally feels like yesterday.

As for my actual yesterday, it was the 'Queen's Birthday', a Public Holiday, so the library was closed... so sorry to be emailing a day late! Since we're on the subject, however, next week I will be emailing on Tuesday again, because it's that time of year... Transfers!! I really really hope that I stay another transfer in Tamworth. Chances are I will- if anyone gets transferred, it'll be Elder Ripley, as he's been here longer- then again, God does move in a mysterious way.

 

Top news of the week: We had two more lessons this past week with Adam, Tyson's friend. In the first lesson we taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ and I committed him to be baptized July 5th... and he accepted!! HALLELUJAH! He is definitely prepared and is super excited. Needless to say I was pretty excited too, so to celebrate we went to the store that sells American treats and I bought some salsa, Doritos and peanut butter m&ms... let's just say it was a great night!

 

We had our Zone Training Meeting up in Coffs Harbour. Elder Ripley and I woke up extra early on Thursday and had an exchange with the Zone Leaders in Coffs. It was really fun! I got to see Coffs Harbour more fully- it's beautiful! We had some good adventures and I met some very funny people. On Friday we had our Meeting and then our Zone P-Day, which we ended up doing some frisbee and footy. In the evening we went on some more trade-offs with members of the Church up there. Elder Ripley and I went with Brother Brown, the Ward Mission Leader (he's actually from Kearns, UT!), and we visited this member named Anna. She's an incredible lady- when she and her daughter joined the church about 20 years ago, her daughter's ex-boyfriend starting persecuting them. In total he blew up 8 cars, planted a bomb in their apartment complex and on several occasions tried to burn her house down. Basically it was pretty extreme. But what she said after relating these experiences really struck me, she said- "With all these trials, I knew it would either make or break my faith- thankfully, it strengthened my conviction that this church IS true, to the point that I really would've died for it". What an incredible testimony.

 

Sunday had a great miracle- Matt made it to church! He even stayed for all three hours, soaking it all up. He loved it, and so did we. He's coming along wonderfully!

 

On Sunday we dropped by Chris, Patrick and Amanda- the family we left the Book of Mormon with. We called in just for a moment, but long enough for them to ask about our names- since they figured we wouldn't tell them our first names, they decided to make up their own names for us. They picked Bob for Elder Ripley and Phil for me. Haha. We're seeing them this week which should be really good!!

 

For a Spiritual thought I'd like to refer you all to Mormon 9:27. I love this verse. To me, the power phrase, "Doubt not, but be believing" really sticks out. In whatever phase of life we may be in, whatever trial- we need to exercise our faith, to actively choose to trust and believe in the safety of our Savior. After all, what could be more sure?

 

And an Aussieism: One of my personal favorites, "Sticky Beaking" is to be nosy or snoopy. A "Sticky Beak" is someone who sticks their nose into everyone's business. I just think it sounds so funny!

 

Well, I love you all and hope you have a great week! Sorry for the short email, but enjoy the Summer Sun for me!

 

Cheers,

 

Elda Easton

Times in Tamworth 11

안녕 안녕!!

Another eventful week in the best place in the world! Here's some news I have to report:

Sarah, the miracle Korean from last week, moved back to Brisbane on Saturday. I was heaps disappointed, but it's okay- I figure she was just the boost Heavenly Father needed to give me to keep me going. So just pray she'll get converted up in Brizzy :)

Matt, the Hugh-Jackman-look-alike, is progressing beautifully. We met up with him twice this week, and our first lesson was centered completely on baptism (his choice). When we went to the second lesson later in the week, his countenance had completely changed. He no longer had some of the anxieties and fears about joining the church- instead, he spoke calmly and assuredly aboutwhen he joins the church, not if. You know how the Doctrine and Covenants talks about the elect just being ready? Yes well Matt definitely falls into that category. He's still got some things to work out before baptism (aka getting married to his partner), but in the meantime it's incredible to see the Spirit work in his life and literally see his faith grow. 

Later in the week we met up with the single-mom family, Chris, Amanda and Patrick. We taught the Restoration and gave them all a Book of Mormon. The lesson was pretty good, they didn't give a whole lot of feed-back about their feelings, but they committed to read the whole Book of Mormon which was awesome.Have you ever had that feeling like you have the answer to someone's questions and problems, but they don't even realise they have those questions or problems? Yeah well that's definitely how I feel about this family, as in I don't think they are actively searching out religion or even feel like they may need it, but when you weigh their difficulties and challenges with the gospel's answers and solutions, you know it's a perfect fit. Then again, who am I kidding? The gospel is always a perfect fit. 

As for our other investigators we visited, we saw Lieken and Benson, two YSA age from Taiwan who came to church last week. The language barrier was a bit hard, but we taught them the Restoration and gave them Book of Mormons in English and Mandarin. They took it pretty well, and are excited to learn more, which is always a bonus.

This weekend we had our quarterly interviews with President Howes. With all the areas in my zone being spread hours apart, they split their visits to all the areas in two days. Tamworth was the last area of the first day, so after our interviews President and Sister Howes took us out to dinner!! Yum! President Howe's tire had gone flat during the interviews, however, so I had to drive them with us (scary!!) to dinner, and then after we changed the tire with the spare. Overall a fun evening!

Another great night was visiting the Csanki family (don't worry, they don't know how to pronounce it either). They live out in Woolomin, about 45 minutes out of town. I must say I am getting increasingly better at driving down country/dirt roads. Anyhow we had a great evening with their family, and they even let me feed their sheep and a wild possum. True country experience!!

The highlight of the week may have been our Ward Party on Saturday. It turned out to be a huge success- we had a really good turn out and a great potluck dinner, with some minute to win it games and trivia night (led by Elder Ripley). As I looked around at all the faces of members/less actives/investigators who we've been seeing these past 2 months, all together and having a good time, I was just filled with such peace and happiness, the same kind of feeling I get during Thanksgiving or Christmas- just being warm and good in the company of those you love. Wouldn't trade it for the world.

For a spiritual thought, I'd just like to share an experience I had during my interview with Sister Howes. Sister Howes has asked all the missionaries to prepare sort of like a life motto, or catchphrase for ourselves- a power phrase that really defines our core. I shared mine with her, and we moved on- she told me stories on how some missionaries had brought their phrase to her, but she knew it wasn't the one they were meant to have and they had then sought guidance together and had a revelatory experience in truly 'discovering' their phrase. 

Well as she told me this I felt in my heart that mine really wasn't mine- it wasn't what the Lord wanted it to be. I asked Sister Howes- "Do you think mine is the right one?" She laughed and said- "No, no it's not." I agreed and so together we started talking about what it really might be. Sister Howes asked me essentially why I have stayed a member of the church- why I'm on my mission, and why I believe it's all true. I answered it's because of the Atonement- actually finding relief from sin, having my burdens and stresses and anxieties literally lifted from me- that I'm here today. Because I know and am continually learning that the Atonement really works and that I can trust it to let go of past mistakes, I wanted to help others feel that same thing, too- I reckon it'd be kind of selfish of me not to offer that. 

Well Sister Howes quite simply responded- "It's easy for you, then. You're statement's got to be about the Atonement." Together we decided on the phrase "The Atonement is real". It was one of the coolest experiences I've had- the phrase just sung inside me, and I knew it's the one Heavenly Father wants for me. I just started laughing after we chose it- I just couldn't believe we had actually received a little piece of revelation right then and there! It was the simplest and yet one of the most profound feelings. 

Aaaaand as for an Aussieism, I thought that since it's coming up to winter time, I better share with you that everyone is getting 'crooked'- some have been 'crook' all week, some were 'crook' a while ago, and many more have yet to become 'crook'; no, I'm not talking about stealing or anything, but getting sick. The first time I heard it I actually thought it meant 'angry' or 'upset', but it actually means more like sniffles and the flu. Interesting. Well hopefully I won't be getting crook anytime soon!

Cheers,

'Elda' Easton