Another Great Week With Members and Investigators

Wow, this week went by super fast.  We had an unusually high amount of member feeding us.  Almost once a day!

We went to Carmichael's house.  Brother Carmichael and his wife are the best.  Brother Carmichael has this amazing leather workshop in his garage, and he helped me make a cool belt.

Elder Dang found six new people this week too.  All of them are fresh from China.  Five of them came to an English class that we held at the university library.  We were able to use one of their private study room which was nice.  We were able to have a lesson with them using a Mormon message to teach them English.

We had a ward barbecue later that week and three of them came.  We ate sausages, played soccer and they talked with members quite a bit.  It was a great activity.  We are so happy that we received an answer to our prayers from our investigators!

Transfers are coming up at the beginning of next week.  Since I have been out here for about six months I think I will move.  Because I think I will move, we went to the famous Salamanca market again, and I bought a few souvenirs.  I wish I could of bought more, but the things are pricey!  Before I leave I will go to the markets in Melbourne and get more things.  The things I got here were specific to Tasmania.

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老
*76 Cathies Lane*
*Wantirna South VIC 3152*
*Australia*

Another Beautiful Week in Tasmania

Hello everyone! 

Even though the weather this week has not been all that good (it has been very rainy), we have still got the chance to meet with some new people. Recently we have been trying to get some new investigators, and we finally got some this week through calling the people we had contacted earlier. One of the people we visited lives in a home-stay, and most of the other people in her home-stay go to another church that seems to not like our church. Elder Dang talked with them for a while, and was able to explain some of our doctrines to them, and we hope that next time we come back, they can become new investigators.

Last p-day, we went to the southern arm, where there are some breathtaking caves and natural features, most of them involving water. That was a lot of fun.

And when we were there we saw this too.

This month we probably won’t be able to do another road trip, because we will have to drive up to the north of Tasmania for Zone meeting, which will use most of our allotted kilometers. That is next week, and I have to drive all the way there and back. When I finish my mission, my time spent driving on the left side of the road will be about the same amount of time spent on the right.

It was also Australia day a few days ago and there were some boat races at the beach near our house.We also had a party/bbq at the bishop’s house. It was a good day. Though the bishop’s barbecue had a lot of other types of food, I really like the barbecues here. All you need is 3 things; sausages, white bread and onions. You put the sausage into a piece of bread and put some onions and perhaps sauce on top. So you can feed a lot of people for very cheap and the food is good.

We went on exchanges last week and visited this investigator that has parrots! Sometimes you can see these outside and in the wild. 

A member lent us their sewing machine and my companion and I have made some awesome ties! 

Thank you for your prayers!

-- 

Elder Jordan Andersen
楊長老
*76 Cathies Lane*
*Wantirna South VIC 3152*
*Australia*

When The Going Gets Tough....

This was a great week. Most of our investigators are going back to China for new year.

Celine, our recent convert, went back to Malaysia yesterday. We had hotpot with her and another investigator before she left. Hotpot is the best. I do not know why I never saw it in the US. We also played a little Ma Jiang. 

We have been praying for Celine's parents not to worry about her joining the church. Her mother is still quite worried, but we hope that when she goes back home, they will see that her daughter is perfectly normal, and will relax a little. Help us pray for Celine and her parents.

We had interviews with president this week. I enjoy interviews with president. We discussed our area and some things that I have been studying lately in personal study.

Today a member was going to take us to a place called Skywalk in their RV, but the RV had problems. Skywalk is basically a place that you can walk on top of the forest on these tall bridges. We will probably go next week. 

Super glad to have the opportunity to serve in Tasmania through another transfer. I anticipate things will get a little harder with all of the people going back to China (hence the title) but we will find people!

Christmas Week

Christmas was really great. We went to 4 people's homes. For breakfast we went to the Thayer's home. They have a ton of little kids and there was so much excitement. They were all opening their presents, and comparing them, and laughing. They made a huge breakfast and we all ate English muffins with bacon and eggs, and I ate a lot of fruit. 

Then we had a gap of time, so we took the English missionaries to another member's home to Skype. The members ended up inviting us in too because we were just waiting in the car for them. Their family is the "musical family", and there were guitars and other instruments in their living room, so I got a chance to play a little guitar. I have not played for a very long time, so I am not that good. 

That afternoon, we drove out to the farmlands, and taught a lesson at another member's house. The Sister missionaries were also there. They invited us because there are 3 Taiwanese people who are living at this member's house and working on the farm. They also had a lot of kids, and a lot of good food. They had Lamb with mint jelly, an Australian favorite.

I wish we could teach those people, and do more finding and teaching in those rural areas, but unfortunately we are the only Chinese companionship on this island. We do what we can do, but usually the English missionaries teach the Chinese people who live too far away. 

Then at about 4pm we went to the Stewarts house. They are the ones who invite us over often, and have a large plot of land with a pony. When we came, they were having a water fight (It was really hot on Christmas), so we joined them. It was a little silly having a water fight in our proselyting clothes, but it was either soak other people, or get soaked. The time passed so quickly. Before we knew it, we had to return home. We made the long drive home, and when we got home, we discovered that members had left some presents at our door. This ward is very good to us. They gave us some Christmas treats, and toys.

We actually ended up opening most of our Christmas gifts on Christmas eve because we knew that we were completely booked on Christmas. I want to thank my family for the gifts they sent. The gift guessing game was a lot of fun. Thanks for the watch! I like it! And all of the other things. In the end I won the gift guessing game. Some of them were puns, so it was harder for my Chinese companion to guess, but we shared the grand prize. 

I look forward to hearing how your Christmas was.

Our car is really beat. Yesterday the side mirror fell off, and the dealership is closed for a couple more days. 

I like my companion. He tells me some crazy stories about his old area and life back in China. Unlike most Chinese people I have run into, he is from the countryside. The people there are more poor. he is not poor, but he basically lived in the ghetto all his life. To be honest I feel like I have gotten a little lazy, especially with all of the fun things we have had recently. But now that that is mostly over, I am looking forward to getting back to work, especially since Celine is getting baptized soon. 

Celine is super keen. She came to church today. She is the girl whose' best friend is serving a mission right now. 

Right now I can hear my companion telling his family about how the cars here will let you enter their lane and let other people in front of them. haha

Last week one of our investigators got a 2 week old kitten. It is super cute, and she has a sock that she often puts it in.

Until next week.

No Sled with Reindeers, but a Harley for this Santa.

Last P-Day my companion and I went to a place called the Penitentiary Chapel. Tasmania, like Australia, used to be a penal colony. Anyway, we went because this one was in the city, and it was cheaper than the others. The tour was interesting. The 2 most memorable parts were the solitary confinement cells and the place where they hang people.  Other than that the tour was a little long and boring.

We met a super keen investigator near the beach yesterday. Her boyfriend is a missionary for our church and he told her to meet with us. So yeah. She is very keen.  This was our first time having a lesson near Sandy Bay. It is a really beautiful beach and it is super close to our house, but for some reason we never walked by it before. Then we saw Santa riding a motorcycle along the beach. 

Yesterday we had a Christmas musical fireside. We invited many investigators, and 5 new investigators came, including the girl we met at Sandy Bay. It was painful setting up rides for everyone. None of our investigators have cars because they are students, so I had to set up two cars to pick people up. And most people here only use road maps for some reasons, and the streets are so old and complicated. Aahhh. It took about an hour to set that up. It was a miracle that everyone got there and back. The activity itself was excellent. They had a few choir numbers and a few solos, and instruments, and video clips from Mormon.org. One of our new friends told us that he basically felt the spirit. And we have not even taught him about the spirit yet!

Today we will leave for the north part of Tasmania around noon. It is about a 2.5 hour drive. And there will be 5 missionaries in each Corola. The ride up there is usually not too comfortable, but I am excited for the party up there. The missionaries will have a Christmas event up there, and the President, his wife, and the assistants are flying here. Next week I will say how the party went.

Tiring and Exciting Week!

The past week has been super exciting, and tiring. We dropped off Elder Xiao and the rest of the people going to the mainland at the Hobart airport. It is a small airport, with only a few flights coming in per day. 

The next day I stayed with the English missionaries. We had a couple of lessons and did some door knocking. When we knocked the first door, the person slammed the door, but after that everyone was pretty nice. 

We came back home and inspected a flat to make sure it was suitable for the new missionaries coming in. We also looted a couple of things. I got a tie hanger and some Nike shoes. 

The next day I got my new companion. He is Elder Dang from QingHai. He has been out for about a year. So far we get along well. Elder Dang is very good at teaching and his Chinese is very easy to understand. The first couple of days I spoke 80% Chinese.

Since the students here have their holiday right now, things are a little slow, but we have still had some lessons. 

A couple of days ago we missed a bus to the city so we decided to walk. I found this trail along the coast with all of these little historical things along the way. That was a lot of fun, but it took a while. I hoped walking that trail would help Elder Dang to like this area. He loved his old area.

It seems like we visited a lot of members this week. We visited the Stewarts house yesterday, and they showed Elder Dang their Pony, and their huge yard, where they grow much of their own food. We also visited a less active and she said she would come to church for the first time in over a year. We shared about the role of Jesus Christ and it was a very spiritual lesson.

Church was great this Sunday. There was a musical number, and Sally got confirmed. 

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.