Sydney Week 16 (Sorry, a week late again, man I am getting into a bad habit!)

Well, this week there is very little time :( But I will use every minute that I can. 

This week was quite the week for sure. There were some sad things that occurred in the District, but fortunately, we did our best to not allow this to affect our work. We had one of the greatest miracles that I have experienced on the mission this last week. While street contacting, I was able to meet a man named John. He was looking at his map for Chinatown, and I don't think it was coincidence he was having a hard time to find it even though it was only 2 blocks away. It was the perfect opportunity for me to talk to him and get to know him. We walked with him back to the church and showed him around and then shared with him how much God loves him. He walked into the Teaching Center stating he didn't believe in God, but followed science. He left having had a very spiritual experience and feeling the Spirit testify to him that His Father in Heaven loves him. As we were teaching, I remember bearing testimony, and seeing that he was feeling the spirit, I had the question come to me to ask "John, how do you feel right now?" He replied "I feel that I want to try. I want to believe in God and to learn more." I was blown away! After more discussion and testimony, we taught him how to pray and he once again had the Spirit teach him about the reality of our Father in Heaven. We felt prompted to meet with him again the next day even though he committed to come to church and he was very excited for the chance to come to both. Meeting with him the next day, we had once again a very Spirit driven lesson. He has been very well prepared by the Lord to accept His message at this time. The truth is, I feel that the times when Elder Dade and I are not speaking is when he is learning the most. He is very open and sensitive to the spirit, and it has been a miracle to see how well prepared he truly is. He came to church yesterday wearing a suit and stayed for 2 hours and really enjoyed it. He truly is the most well prepared person I've met to hear and accept the gospel.
Something I enjoyed about church yesterday was the ability to explain and celebrate Easter with several investigators who do not know what Easter means and why we have it. Not only at church, but at the special Easter program that was last night. There was a great spirit there at both church and the program that was noticeable and allowed great opportunities to teach about Christ and His resurrection. It truly was the best Easter I've experienced! The Spirit in rich abundance, many teaching opportunities, and enjoying wonderful music with others is always a special experience.

A special thing happened yesterday. At the easter program we went to last night with our investigators. Corene sang "This is the Christ" It was AMAZING! Then I got to introduce her to Noy (baptized on the 23'rd and doing so well! She's awesome!) as well as 3 other investigators of mine from Japan and some other friends from the ward. Corene is so funny! Trying to hear her pronounce these people's names and then remember them was quite enjoyable. She is so friendly though and they loved her. Perfect fellowship! They were all so impressed with her singing and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little proud in stating "that's my cousin!" People didn't believe me at first, but then they said "ahhh... that's why you can't sing for beans, because she took all the family talent for singing!" or something like that is what they said ;)  

John, is by far the best and most interested to learn investigator I've met. He's so pure!! I am very excited for him. Noy continues to progress well and will actually speak at the recent convert fireside next week. I'll let you know how that goes. Love you all!!

Elder Shafer