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
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