Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! Hope everyone has survived the holidays. It's been another great (and hot) week down in Sydney.

So yesterday was transfer meeting, and there've been some changes for our zone. I'm still in Summer Hill, but I have a new companion- Elder Bettridge. He's from Adelaide and is Aussie as! He seems pretty cool so far, hopefully we'll get along well. Elder Han got moved up to Kellyville, and the other 2 Elders in my flat left also! So it's been a big change. Also, I got called to be District Leader! Like what the heck?! It's going to be a lot of hard work, and even though I think President's crazy for asking me, I guess I better do what he says! haha. If any of you have any tips I'd love to hear them!

We met with Izac Sebastion this week. His dad wanted us to paint his house, but it was too hot, so instead I gave service by teaching Izac piano lessons! It was really fun. Afterwards they fed us some "Authentic Aboriginal Food". Elder Han asked what it was and this is how Alex (the dad) prefaced it: "I'm not going to tell you until after you eat it. I don't want you not to eat it, so taste it first and then I will tell you!". In my mind I was freaking out, but I decided that I have to at least try it. Anyways they made us this red curry with rice, it was really good but the meat was strange, really soft like fish. I was super worried it would be some sort of bizarre organ or something and was really apprehensive, but ate it anyways (Surprised, aren't you?!). After we ate, Alex told us what it was: snake! It was probably the last thing I was expecting, but I was definitely relieved to know it wasn't a liver or bladder, just a different kind of animal. So that was cool!

We had a miracle this week as far as investigators: We got a referral from the Ashfield Sisters (Chinese Speakers), it was this Egyptian man named Romario. When we met with him the lesson went incredibly; he bore his testimony about the Book of Mormon, how he knows it has to be true and how he feels the spirit when he reads it. Incredible. Hopefully he'll continue to keep that witness as we prepare him for baptism in the nest few weeks!

Christmas was great. It was really stormy and kind of cold, so it felt more like Christmas to me (even though all the Aussies were upset, haha). We had heaps of feeds, and they were all huge roasts and hams and all sorts of filling foods. I literally thought my stomach would burst by the end of the day, but it's part of the mission experience, right?

Boxing day was the best because I got to call home! A family in the ward let me use their house phone, it was super nice. Not to mention it was soo good to hear from you guys! Thanks so much for making my holiday the best.

Okay, so the Aussieism this week is small but I thought it was cool: They call "Ziplines", "Flying Foxes". Kind of a neat name!

And my spiritual thought. Literally 4 or 5 times this week, in conversation or trainings or talks, the scripture Ether 12:27 has come up, so I figured Heavenly Father's trying to tell me something! Haha. But as I read and studied it this week I realized that it says "weakness" not "weaknesses", which is really interesting. I think if you imagine it in the sense that weakness is like all our sins, all our imperfections, then it's kind of amazing to read it and think about how Heavenly Father has given us all weakness, or imperfection, so that we may be humble- puts a lot of importance on that quality, doesn't it? I know humility is something all of us, myself especially, can definitely improve on.

Well I hope your New Years starts of with a bang! Enjoy the holiday and be safe!

Much Love,

Elder Easton

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

I hope you're all enjoying the cold, Christmasy weather. Down here we've had 3 consistent days of 40degrees+, and it doesn't look like it'll cool down anytime soon! Haha, I am constantly glistening- that is, in my sweat. I'm learning to love it, though!

Elder Han and I met up with Letitia this week. She's doing good, she heard about the Word of Wisdom and isn't too sure about that.. which is hard because she still doesn't have a testimony of God, so we're working around helping her with that. We also went and visited an old former, his name is Izac and he's 11. He's aboriginal which is super cool, his mom and brother are baptised but not active and his dad is Catholic, but all for his son getting baptised. We're actually meeting up again tonight, let's hope it goes well!

Our Christmas Conference was so much fun! I had no idea there are so many missionaries in my mission- I've kind of been stuck in my little zone bubble since I got here! I also received the parcels and mail you've all sent me, thank you so much!! It literally has made my month! Mom and Dad, thank you especially for the felt tree- you'll be proud to know it's sitting up on my desk! I'm glad I get to be a part of that missionary tradition. Anyways the conference was a blast, we got to watch "Ephraim's Rescue" (loved it) and had a little talent show and all sorts of stuff. The only downside was the elders in the flat made ME drive all the way back from Baulkham Hills in the rush hour traffic... it took 2 hours to get home!! Stress to the max!! 

Speaking of Christmas, I had a holiday surprise this week! So a few of the moms in the ward have been noticing that some of my shoes are starting to fall apart... and so three families, the Dalmans, Byrnes and Stokes chipped in together and bought me a brand new pair of Rockports!!! I couldn't believe it!!! They're beautiful and fit perfect. I think we can definitely agree I'm well taken care of and watched over here in Summer Hill.

Our recent convert, Harry, (the one who got baptised the first Saturday I was here) went home to China this week. It's kind of dodgy, the only thing the church had for Harry was an email for him to write to in order to get in contact with the church. I am sad he left, but know he'll do great things in hastening the work in China.

This week, Elder Han and I have done heaps of service projects, including helping people move, weeding and gardening, and of course, mowing lawns. I have to say it was actually kind of nice to be able to mow the lawn again (And it helps that the lawns are teensy over here). 

Well, that about sums up the work down under for the week! Here's my weekly "Aussie-ism":
In the Spirit of the Season, I thought I'd send you all a treat. "Urine" for a good one- just don't pee your pants! The first time I walked into the bathroom to, well you know, I was surprised to see that the urinals aren't at all like the ones in the States- in fact, it's just a metal wall and a trough that you just stand next to and go.. maybe this grosses you out but I thought it was hilarious! Definitely a culture shock for me. And don't worry, after 3 months of trying to sneakily get a picture of one, I finally have done it, so I've attached the Australian Urinal in all it's glory just for you. Merry Christmas!

And now for the Spiritual thought for the week:

I found a quote I really like from President Lorenzo Snow which I found really applicable for all of us. It goes, 
"Each last day or each last week should be the best that we have ever experienced, that is, we should advance ourselves a little every day, in knowledge and wisdom and in the ability to accomplish good. As we grow older, we should live nearer the Lord each following day."

Some good advice, if you ask me.

Enjoy the holidays!! Love you all and MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Cheers,

Elder Easton 

Cheers from Down Under

The first week of December has been off to a decent start! Elder Han and I have added a few more people to our teaching pool, including an old Aussie named Graham and a Korean named DK. Not much to report on their progression, because we've only just begun teaching them, but hopefully more exciting news will follow in the coming weeks!

With Christmas coming along, we've decided to do a little Christmas Activity every day to bring a little more of the holiday cheer. For example, one day last week I decked our flat out in paper snowflakes; another day we had milo and peppermint candy; a third day we sang carols to some ward members. It's been really fun to have something to look forward to each day! Speaking of singing, guess what I get to do? A member of our ward is the director of the newly formed institute/ysa Christmas Choir, and so she asked us to join it! We had to pull a few strings, but Elder Han and I are now the proud members of this little choir... yeah we're pretty terrible, but it's so fun to get to go and sing! It reminds me of last Christmas, singing in choir at school... has it already been a year since that happened?!

The weather has been beautiful this week, with the warm weather rolling in. It smells like summer more and more everyday- I love it! The one problem is that with the heat, the flies and mosquitoes have quadrupled. Since it's warming up, we spend more and more time in the park doing finding and talking to people. President Howes has actually implemented something called "The Survey". Just like the name suggests, it's a 3 minute survey we have that we can go and ask for peoples opinions about. It may sounds dumb, but the results of it have been INCREDIBLE! About 75% I've been able to get people to really open up about their beliefs and share some of ours.. some of the conversations I've had have even lasted for over an hour! It has kind of blown me away how a less threatening approach like a survey really gets people to be more comfortable around me, as well as more interested in what I have to share. It's great! I feel like using this survey more is really going to get our teaching pool up... let's hope so!

This month I've set a goal for myself to be a "Savior Centered Servant". With the Christmas season, I think it's a really great chance to focus extra hard on the Savior and what he has done and still does for all of us, so I decided to start reading "Jesus the Christ". Oh my goodness. It's been amazing! I've learned so much about Jesus already in the one week I've been reading it. I feel kind of bad I have never taken the opportunity to read it before, but I'm so grateful I can now! I especially have loved reading about the Antemortal Christ, how He was foreordained just like all of us for His role here on the earth. I'd definitely suggest reading a chapter or two from it when you get the chance, maybe even the part on Christ's birth! :)

As for the Australian quirk, I've just begun noticing that there are heaps of people who go shoeless. Like everywhere. In the store, on their bikes, on the train, mowing the lawn... you name it, they're barefoot. Kind of funny, although I can't imagine how many times they cut or skewer their feet. Maybe they're like hobbits? haha. 

Thanks again for all your prayers and love! Hope this is another enjoyable week as we all prep for Christmas.. whoo hoo!

Love,

Elder Easton

Another week down

Merry Christmas!

This has been a great week, as we've really gotten into the Christmas spirit. You'd never believe it, but I found "Mr. Krueger's Christmas" dvd in our flat! So we've been watching it at almost every member appointment we have. It's been really fun to watch the same movie we've watched every year since.. well since forever!

On Thursday we went to a Christmas party with a ward member, Richard Callcott. He was baptised about 5 years ago, and lives in a nursing home just up from the church. It was a party with all the old folks in his home, and it was a blast! We sang carols and ate pre-digested food (to help the older people swallow), but still very fun. He gets a bit lonely sometimes so it was really good to go and visit with him. He's a crackup!

On Sunday, Elder Han and I also got to sing in the Institute Choir because they "toured" over to our ward. We sounded pretty terrible, but still so great to get to sing. Everyone in the ward is really getting into the spirit of giving, and I love it because it means I get to be the recipient! Haha, looks like even in Australia, I still get a Christmas! ;)

Saturday we had our ward party. It started in the Afternoon with caroling at Richard's nursing home, after which we went to a park for a barbeque. It was so fun, heaps of food and good company. While "Santa" was getting dressed and grabbing the presents for the kids, the bishop asked Elder Han and I to play some games with the children to distract them. I decided to teach them "Mingle, Mingle, Mingle"! Uncle Jon, I'm proud to report that your game has made it all the way over to Australia! Haha, the little kids loved it- so much that even on Sunday they kept chasing me around to play it with them in the gym. So that was fun! 

Our recent convert, Harry, brought his non-member friend, Letitia (pronounced Latisha- yes, she's Chinese) to the party. On a whim we invited them to go to the Temple Lights up in Carlingford afterwards, and they agreed! Together with a member and her daughter, the 6 of us drove up to the Temple and took a look at the lights and displays. We watched a movie about Christ and then looked at a gallery of art depicting Christ's birth, life, and resurrection. It was a really spiritual experience- Letitia loved it, and even told us her favorite picture was Jesus getting baptised! At the end of the night we went up to the temple and looked at it while we talked about the Church and how we can feel so much peace, calm and comfort from it. Letitia expressed how she had a wonderful experience and just felt so much peace from going, and the best part being that she wanted to learn more! It was definitely a Christmas Miracle, because she was able to feel the spirit so strongly that she had a desire to meet with us again. We're meeting up with her on Wednesday, hopefully she'll become a new investigator!

As for our other investigators, unfortunately they've been dodgy this past week and we haven't gotten ahold of any of them... but of course we'll keep trying and hopefully see a few more Christmas Miracles leading up to the big day!

As for the "Aussie-isms" for this week: I'll share with you some speech patterns Aussies have. For one, they love to shorten words and add "ie" to the end. For example, Australians become "Aussies", Mosquitoes become "Mossies", and even Missionaries become "Mishies". Also, they love to say "aye" at the end of a sentence, such as "It's hot today, aye" or "Don't you love the gospel, aye!". The difference between Aussies and New Zealander's is that the NZ's say "Haye" instead of "Aye". Funny little things.

And finally, for the spiritual thought of the week: When you get a chance, read 2 Nephi 4. It's sometimes called "Nephi's Psalm", and is a beautiful chapter all about Nephi's testimony and growing in the gospel. My favorite verse in the chapter is 18- "Awake my soul! No longer droop in sin." I think Christmas time is as good as any to re-evaluate where we are with the Savior and to recommit ourselves to wake up a little and be more proactive in fostering our testimonies. I know I definitely can! 

Well folks, love you heaps and hope you have a great week! Talk to you soon,

Elder Easton

A Late Thanksgiving to you all

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Hope your holiday season has started off well. Mine definitely has! It's been a great week, certainly getting heaps hotter down here. For Thanksgiving, us Elders thought we'd have a little celebration, so Elder Han cooked some chicken fried rice and cut up some fruit (the extent of fancy food for us missionaries). We did buy a stuffed chicken, but didn't realize the label said "30 minutes cooking time for EACH KG", not total... so we had to finish cooking it the next day. But still delicious. 

Since we're on the Holiday topic, I thought it would make you happy to know that I bought a little Christmas tree and some decorations! It has definitely brought that Christmas Spirit into our flat, even if there aren't any presents. Don't you worry, however, I have begun wrapping things up that are around the flat and planning to give them as gifts... let's just say I hope the Elders will be pleased to receive a slightly used spatula or a ball-pen from yours truly. Hehe. 

Not much progression with the investigators. One of our investigators, Sherry, just moved back to Kenya on Sunday, I was super disappointed. Pray that she continues to meet with the missionaries back in Africa!

Oh so I think you'd all find this interesting... after 2 months in the field, I finally had my first battle with a cheesy member dinner. Yes, it was about as cheesy as it can get- lasagna. I froze- what was I going to do? I prayed that I would be able to stomach it and that it wouldn't taste cheesy.. and I can testify that PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED! Haha. I hope (Mom and Dad especially) that it makes you proud that I ate a whole piece of lasagna. Now don't expect me to be able to do it when I get home- it was for the greater good, so I had no choice. 

Saturday was a really eventful day. Elder Han and I spent like 9 hours at the chapel. We helped with the baptism of a little girl in our ward, who's whole extended family are non-members. We got a few contacts, not to mention that her family is entirely Indian-Fijian, so I had some of the most authentic Indian food ever. Delicious. It was, however, on the spicy side... I grabbed a samosa (spelling?) because it looked fried, only to discover after I had pounded the first two that they were literally packages of LAVA! My mouth was on fire! Besides that, however, it was veeery delicious. After the baptism, the authentic food continued, but this time it was Korean. The Korean families in our ward planned a Korean fireside for all of the Koreans basically in Sydney, and quite a few came! It was wonderful language practice, not to mention the food- so good! It was really fun, I was able to talk about the basics with the Koreans, which I was really happy about. The only bad news we had about it is that at the beginning of the week, Elder Han and I had 12 Korean potentials lined up to come- by Saturday morning, every one had cancelled. Too bad.

Not much else to report. This month we're really focusing on preparing a gift for the Savior during the holiday season. Elder Han and I are ready to work extra hard to get a baptism this month! None are planned right now, but I believe in miracles!! There's also a light show and art exhibit up in Carlingford at the temple, and we are allowed to go if we bring an investigator. Pray that we'll find one to go with; I desperately want to go see it! Haha I love Christmas lights too dang much.

Australian Quirk: Okay this week I have two. 1- Real Estate is HUGE here. They have huge canvas posters in front of houses to advertise, and every Saturday there are humongous open houses everywhere. Real Estate is in high demand, and it's super pricey. A two bedroom flat in a decent area? $700,000. It's crazy! Oh then the 2- They say "Happy Christmas" here. Not sure how I feel about that one.

And spiritual thought: Proverbs 147:5. I found this scripture at the temple this morning. The happiest people on this earth are those who have hope in Him. 

Now go have a wonderful week preparing for Christmas! Enjoy the snow for me!!
Love,

Elder Easton

p.s. The Pictures: Thanksgiving and my Christmas Tree!!

oh p.p.s.- I Started driving this month!! scary!!! It was really hard at first, but I'm getting better! Pray I don't crash! Haha...

Another week gone by

G'day!

Another eventful week has gone by. There's not a whole lot to report this week- Doris is still our investigator, but she's pushed back her baptism. She's dealing with a lot of things lately with her roommate and her family (we fond out she has a husband and children, but they live in America!), so she has some issues to sort out before she can prepare herself for baptism. Hopefully she'll keep letting us come over!

We did meet a lot of potential this week. I met a girl on the train named Sherilyn, and she's golden, but unfortunately she left later in the week to go home to China for holiday break. She said she wants to meet with us again when she gets back, but that's not until March, so it won't be for awhile. We also met a man named Denis, he's also Chinese and is pretty golden as well. Luckily for us he's staying, so we'll get to see him a lot more often! He is agnostic but has a lot of christian friends, and wants to find out for himself if it's true or not. Pretty perfect, wouldn't you say?!

Elder Han and I did quite a bit of finding this week in Strathfield, which is like the little Korea Town of Sydney. I was super happy to be able to finally practice my Korean, but unfortunately it's not where I would like it to be.. haha. I was able to share a message in Korean, but I didn't know what the heck anyone's response was. I think it was a good wake up call for me though, and is really getting me motivated to study harder! Even with the language barrier, we did manage to get in contact with two Korean guys, Min Jae and DK, both of whom don't speak English.. and so we get to teach them!! I'm super stoked about that, because that means I'll get them to teach me Korean in return. Speaking of learning Korean, our Korean Teacher, Shin Ha-seon, left home for Korea yesterday. It was really hard to say goodbye to her, because she had become our really good friend. She promised though that if I ever went to Korea, she'd show me around! I think that settles it- Mom and Dad, better start saving up to go to Korea for the 2016 Olympics!!

One other piece of news you may find funny- I tried baking cookies for mutual on Wednesday. I started making chocolate chip cookies, but we didn't have enough butter, or chocolate chips, or flour.. but I didn't know that until I had already started making them, so I improvised and put some other things in just to try to fix it. I have never realized how convenient mixers are until I tried mixing without one! Needless to say they were more than a little grainy.. anyways I wasn't sure how they were going to taste, but I took them to mutual anyways and turns out they were alright! I was more than a little surprised, but happy that they weren't terrible.. just a little interesting! Haha. I figured it might make Mom proud to know I attempted baking, and that it didn't end in a disaster.. rather unusual for me! 

Other than that, a fairly uneventful week. Here's the Australian culture tidbit of the week: All the bogans (aka country people; hicks; super outback-Australians) say "Fair Dinkin" almost every other word! I'm not even entirely sure what it means, and I don't think they do either, but it's just a slang word they use for everything, good or bad. Example: "This fair dinkin weather is great. I'm so fair dinkin tired I'm gonna rest on that fair dinkin bed, fair dinkin." Make sense? Yeah, it doesn't to me either.. but it's pretty fair dinkin hilarious!

And now for the Spiritual thought. This week especially, Elder Han and I have really been focusing on helping less-actives come back to church, and inviting our investigators to come to church. The scripture we've often shared is Moroni 6:4-6. It talks about the reasons we go to church: to be nourished by the word of God, to talk with and strengthen friends, and to take the sacrament. When we don't go to church, we miss out on these great things, the most important of which is the sacrament. How insignificant it may seem, going to church is one of the most important things we can do to keep us spiritually uplifted and resistant to temptation. Also, through the sacrament we can repent and renew our covenants... sounds pretty great to me. I think if we all really understood what it means to go to church, then there'd be no barrier to big to keep us from getting to the meeetinghouse every week. Just food for thought.

Hope all is well on the other end of the world! Have a great week, and enjoy Thanksgiving! (I almost forgot- isn't it this week??). Get fat on the eats for me!

Love you all,

Elder Easton

Another Week Down Under

Hello Everyone!

This week has had a HUGE amount of rain. It's rained almost every day, and BUCKETS. It's actually been a blessing for the bush fires, but it's also been really wet.. haha. Being the saavy spender that you all know I am, I decided not to buy an umbrella or rain jacket because as soon as I did I know it would stop raining... anyways I've had that logic for about 7 days now, so maybe I'll finally buy one today! 

Oh really quickly- sorry about emailing a day late! It was transfers this week and so our p-day got moved a day later. One of my zone leaders and another missionary in my district finished this transfer, and it was really weird saying goodbye to them! My district leader transfered, but besides those three everyone's still here! I'm glad I get to be with Elder Han still, and I love Summer Hill area, so all is good with me!

Some great news about Doris: we got her back! Elder Han and I decided last week just to stop by and give her some fruit and see what happens, and we ended up teaching a lesson and recommitting her to baptism! It was great news.

On Wednesday we had a "District Activity" to close off our transfer. One companionship in my district is in the Eastlakes Ward, which is a Tongan-speaking ward, and so we got invited to go over for one of their sports nights. I played footie for the first time, and it was so much fun! I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty frightening having giant Tongan men running at you, and for me it was basically dodgeball, except the ball was 50 some odd Tongan men, but still a blast. I also had "O-Ty" for the first time, a slushy drink that was basically milk with chunks and juice of watermelon, passionfruit, cantelope, etc. It was SO GOOD! I can understand why Tongans tend to be... larger, though, because when I sat down to drink, as soon as my cup would even start to look empty they'd take it while asking "Do you want more?" and fill it up no matter what I said. It was pretty funny, and I loved it! The best part about O-Ty is that they made it in a giant storage bin, so there was literally gallons of it, and it was completely gone by the end! Haha! The Tongan people are so loving. I'm so glad I get to experience a million different cultures here!!

My Korean teacher, Shin Ha-seon, leaves for Korea on Sunday, which I'm super sad about! She has helped me so much with learning the language! Hopefully I'll find someone else to submit to teaching us soon. I have actually met quite a few Korean students this week, but with the school year ending for all the unis, everyone's going back home! So finding's been a little tough, but hopefully once summer school gets going there'll be more students to prey on and teach, hehe.

Here's the Australian quirk of the week:

I'm about to get a little personal, but I feel like we're all at that level so it's good. I just can't hold in the strangest thing that I've found so far about Australia- my pee smells so weird! Maybe it's the water or perhaps my diet, but it just smells so strange. So be warned, if you ever come to Australia, you may be surprised at the distinctly different aroma in the bathrooms. TMI? Haha just had to put it out there!

And finally a spiritual thought for the week: 1 Nephi 21:15-16. I love the line "I will not forget thee". Heavenly Father knows who each of are and where we are at in life. He loves us literally so much that it's impossible for Him to forget about us. So turn to Him, because He will always be there. I came across this scripture one night this week where I was kind of feeling a little downhearted and lonely. It's incredible how the Lord works and helps us when we need it most. I have no doubt in my mind that He is real and He lives!

Love you all and talk to you soon,

Elder Easton