Sally Got Baptized!

Sally got baptized! This is a miracle! 

Sorry but I do not have much time to write today. A lot happened. We had the zone conference, and the president came here from the mainland and we had some great trainings. After that meeting we filmed a Christmas video. The subject we were given was "baptism" and "Lilo and Stitch" The video will be shown at the Christmas party at the mission office. I will be at the other Christmas party in Tasmania because I did not get transferred. Elder Xiao will get on a flight later today though because he got transferred :( .

Sally's baptism went well. It was held after church so there was a good turnout. One of our recent converts, Jamie gave a talk. Her English is still a work in progress, so she wrote the talk in Chinese and we helped her translate it. It was simple, but good! Then I baptized Sally. The baptism was clean the first attempt. I said the words correctly. 

​Sally is super good. She has been an investigator for a long time. She is one of those people who finds it hard to make decisions, but she made the right decision this time. I am sure that she will become a great member. 

Well we have to go now because Jamie will treat us to lunch then we have to go to the airport. That is basically our plan for today. Oh yea, and thanksgiving happened, but in Australia it is not that big of a holiday, so nothing really happened. 

Until next week. 

UGH! Or is it UGG?

Only one more week before transfers and Elder Xiao and I are both hoping that we do not get transferred, but he might get transferred since he has been here longer than me.  

Lately we have been trying to think of more object lessons we can use. So we thought of this one using a tissue box. We put some trash in the tissue box, and some candy, and one missionary tells the participant that the box has good things in it and the other tells the investigator that it just has trash in it, then they have to feel around for the candy. It is a good way to teach how action must be used to build faith. 

We met with Sally this week. Even though she failed her baptismal interview again, she is still keen. During the interview, they were rushed a little, so she just kept saying “yes” to all the questions, so we think that may be why they failed her. But that is just a guess. That is another reason that we do not want to get transferred. We really want to witness her baptism since she has been trying for so long.  

Though Hobart is a big city, the University of Tasmania is not that big. We invited an investigator to play Majiang. He wanted to invite his friend. The friend he invited was also an investigator, and we did not know that they knew each other. When we called him to tell him that we were leaving soon, he was hanging out at the house of another one of our investigators.  Then we went to Salamanca Market with some friends.  

Fun fact: did you know that Tasmania provides 80% of the sheepskin used to make sheepskin boots? Did you know that the UGG Australia brand is an American company?  In Australia, the word “UGG” is not a specific brand but a generic term for that type of shoe. A real Ugg is a sheepskin boot that is made in Australia. 

-Until next week!

Hello,

Not that much happened this week. Our investigators that have baptismal dates keep having to postpone for one reason or another. Recently we have had generally more investigators at church which is super cool. There was a woman I found at University of Tasmania, and since she did not speak Chinese, I let the English missionaries meet with her, and she has come to church for the past 3 weeks.

The member who has 2 puppies invited us to eat at her house. They made some really good food, and we got to play with their dogs, and share a message with them.

My companion and I have recently had a cough. It is not too serious, but very annoying. 

I heard about the terrorist attacks in France. Very sad. I pray that there will be no more attacks.

A little while ago we were able to visit the botanical gardens. The botanical gardens were good, but still not as good at the ones in Encinitas, CA.

Sorry about the lack of updates and pictures lately.

Three New Visitors

This was a good week. Yesterday we had 3 new people come to church, and a member brought a new person too.

Tracy has been an investigator for a while. We are hoping she will get baptized at the end of the month.

The second person is named Edward. I found him at the University of Tasmania. Even though he is young, he is a father and he has a wife and kid back in China. We have a member take us to church since we do not have a car, and then this member was also kind enough to pick up this investigator. The whole car ride, he was talking about China. He likes the environment in Hobart a lot more than China.

The third person is Yuanbo. He is the guy who rents a room in a member’s house. He is going back to China soon, so we are just hoping that he will remember what we taught him and keep building faith.

A member who is also a student, that helps us missionaries out a lot, brought a friend to church, and we taught her some things, and hope that she can also become an investigator. Since this member is a super cool returned missionary, we know that he will influence her and tell some stories from his mission to her.

Yesterday we dropped by a member’s home and she bought a new puppy. Pics included.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Things here are pretty
normal. Still a lot of investigators. We have a good investigator. He is from
China, and is doing a “homestay” program at our ward mission leader’s home. We
went to Salamanca (a tent market) with him a couple of days ago. He is interested
but he is going back to China until next year.  

Today we will check out the botanical gardens. 

I saw the Arora a few days ago. It was very very faint
because of the clouds. I hope I can have a chance to see it more clearly before
I leave Australia. 

I Hit My One Year Mark!

We did exchanges this week. A missionary named Elder Scott came to our area. We taught a couple lessons together. They were partly English and partly Chinese.

It is weird being in an English zone. This is a big island, and Elder Xiao and I are the only Chinese missionaries here. It makes me feel like I have a big responsibility.

So during exchanges, one of the people we taught, Sally, said she is willing to be baptized in two weeks. It was one of the easiest baptismal dates I have ever extended. She said “ok, what time?”. Her only concern is that, even though she has been investigating and coming to church for over 6 months, she still think she doesn't know enough. But she does. She has said she would get baptized before, and then cancelled, but we both think now is the time for her.  I may get to experience 2 baptisms in one transfer. That would be super cool.

Also, when we were on exchanges, Elder Scott brought me a new mattress. The old one was so bad and gross that I have been sleeping on a box spring for the past several weeks. So I am super happy and have slept well the past couple of days.

Oh yea, and it is basically my 1 year mark. Don’t know if I will burn a shirt or anything (missionary tradition), but we will see.

Today we have to end our p-day early to drive to a far away place for zone conference tomorrow. So the president will come and talk to all of the missionaries in Tasmania. These meetings are always kind of a pain because it usually means sleeping on the ground, and spending hours inside our small car with 5 people, but I am excited to see the president and his wife. 

A Great Week! Still No Sightings of A Tasmanian Devil.

Hello everyone!

This was a great week.

Tons of lessons, and tons of walking. Most houses around here are crowded around the outlet of a river, and it looks like a huge bay. So the houses are built on steep land around the water, which is a bit of a pain, but it allows most of the houses to have an ocean view which is nice. Our flat has a really nice ocean view. When we are walking, we can often see the ocean, and the Tazman Bridge, and the houses on the other side of the ‘delta’.

Today a member is taking us to mount Wellington; a mountain that overlooks Hobart. I will take some pictures. There is a little bit of snow up there, and we will probably hike a little. Super excited.

I love this area. My companion is great. We both have a similar style of doing missionary work, and we both care about learning the new language. So outside of the flat (apartment) we speak Chinese, and inside of the flat we speak English. Our flat is super nice and has an ocean view. It is the first flat that I have been in without a major thing being broken. Maybe because it used to be a sister’s flat. Hah.

We do not have a car, so we usually take the bus or walk, which is a little bit of a pain because of how steep the land is. It takes about 25 minutes to walk from our house to University of Tasmania, and we make that walk every day; sometimes several times.

Before I came to Tassie I thought it would be super remote. There are remote parts, but Hobart is just like a normal city. There are tall buildings, and grocery stores etc.

There are a lot of rabbits and wallabies here. Wallabies are like mini kangaroos. They are often in the road, but they hop away when cars come. We have not seen a Tasmanian devil yet. They are hard to find. I believe they became endangered due to some virus.

People here have a little bit of an accent. The biggest thing is that sometimes they respond to things by saying “true” and it sounds a little like “trup”.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a way to upload photos yet, but I will get them sent as soon as possible.

Our 2 recent converts, and an investigator came to church today! The teacher for the class didn't come though, so we had to teach a lesson on the spot’. It became more of a discussion on the gifts of the spirit. The spirit can give so many gifts, and it seems like I have yet to receive a lot of them. Here are some of the gifts;

9 For behold, to one is given by the Spirit of God, that he may teach the word of wisdom;

 10 And to another, that he may teach the word of knowledge by the same Spirit;

 11 And to another, exceedingly great faith; and to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit;

 12 And again, to another, that he may work mighty miracles;

 13 And again, to another, that he may prophesy concerning all things;

 14 And again, to another, the beholding of angels and ministering spirits;

 15 And again, to another, all kinds of tongues;

 16 And again, to another, the interpretation of languages and of divers kinds of tongues.

 17 And all these gifts come by the Spirit of Christ; and they come unto every man severally, according as he will.

 18 And I would exhort you, my beloved brethren, that ye remember that every good gift cometh of Christ.

-Moroni 10:8–18

We also had the chance to do some service this week. We helped a member named “grandma” move some firewood. She is super friendly to missionaries, and knows almost all of them. She used to travel a ton and always talks about her travels.

Now I will answer some questions from my family;

Where did you store your other stuff?

Because I had to fly here, I had to leave a couple of suitcases at the mission office on the mainland.

How long do you think you will be there?

People who come here usually stay for 2 or 3+ transfers, because we have to fly.

Tell us overall what you are thinking about your mission half way in.  Was it what you expected?

I cannot answer this question very well because I did not really know what to expect. Perhaps I have gotten along with and had more fun with companions than I expected. Luckily I have not had a really bad companion yet.

What are your biggest surprises, challenges, obstacles, blessings?  What is your greatest accomplishment, area of growth, most important learning, faith building experience? 

There are plenty of challenges. Some of the greatest challenges are getting people to keep commitments, and finding people, and the language. I know that the Lord has helped me with all of these though, and through Him, and working hard, all of these challenges can be overcome.  One thing that has grown my faith a lot is seeing people progress in the gospel and seeing how much it changes and blesses them. I have also seen it in myself. I have also learned how universal the Gospel is. No matter how different people are, the Gospel can help them.

What have you learned about teaching, influencing people?

Not enough. People respond to incentives, and I have learned that it is hard for people to do something if there is not an immediate result. It takes a special person to do something several times, and have the patience to get the desired result. But it is these types of people who have success.  One example could be church attendance.  Sometimes if people don’t have the strongest faith, they will sometimes come to church for social reasons, but when these social reasons go away, they stop coming. Once again it takes a patient person to keep coming to church and trust that their faith will be built and they will be slowly changed.