What a fantastic week! :)
This is Elder Dade, Jogky and Noy Vayakone, and then some other missionary up at the coastal walk. We went there for FHE, it was heaps of fun. Noy is next to me, she is the recent convert from Laos that was baptized in our area last 23'rd of March! :) She and her sister are progressing so well in their testimonies!
Me and Danny. A recent convert the sisters taught, but as is the norm here, pretty much every investigator is known and admired by the whole zone since we always see them haha
We went to the Temple last week. Amazing experience as always :)
These last two pictures are at the Sydney aquarium. It was a great time and we all had a lot of fun. Got a lot of pictures of really weird fish and GIANT crabs, but I figured you could probably care less about those for now.
We now have 6 baptismal dates for our companionship, and have several more people progressing than we have had in the past. The work pushes onward! :) Because of the shortness of time, I will copy my letter to President Howes, and then explain some of the pictures since I haven't sent them home for several weeks. They will recap some of the p-days we have had in the past few weeks. We have seen that as we continue to reach out to members and recent converts, they continue to have a desire to help us in the work. Thus we have had some great p-days with them and they have brought friends to these fun activities such as going to the Aquarium, A coastal walk that was scheduled for Family Home evening, and so forth. I want you all to know that these are all completely approved activities from our Mission President and that I am doing missionary work even though in some pictures we are not in Proselyting clothes because it was not appropriate for the acitivity :)
My core experience this week with God came from how many Cantonese people I was able to find last Friday. I'm not sure what the occasion was, but there were SO many people that I met that day who spoke Cantonese and it was really great practice and a rewarding experience to be able to communicate with them in my assigned mission language. I will relate the most choice story for that day:
Her name is Ting. I met her walking on the street as she was heading to the train station to go home. She said that she came from China which is when I asked if she spoke Cantonese. She affirmed that she did and when I started to speak she was really surprised and started to laugh in disbelief. I am now less surprised by this reaction since it is quite common among people who hear me speaking Cantonese. But after a second she composed herself and started to ask what I was doing, why I know Cantonese etc. We had a great chat and I was able to ask her for help on some Cantonese phrases as she asked me for help with English ones. I kept walking with her to the park near the station, and not wanting to let a choice opportunity pass me by, I asked when her train would depart, she said that she had about 15 minutes upon which I asked if we could continue to have our discussion sitting down in the park. Pulling out a Restoration pamphlet, I was able to explain why I am here, what I do, why I was willing to learn Cantonese, and how the Restoration will benefit her life. She accepted a copy in both Chinese and English so she could use it for language study and said she would like to meet again. This was the longest conversation I have had so far in Cantonese outside of teaching a lesson. I was so excited! In addition to this one experience though, I met several other people that day with whom I also was able to talk about the gospel and invite them to learn more. I received that day several people who are potential investigators whereas normally I can only find 1 or 2 every couple of days. It was a miracle for me indeed!
One of the messages from conference that will change me actually came from Elder Clayton's address. I know that he was specifically addressing marriage, but the thought came to me right when he began speaking that each of the things he will talk about, will apply to my companionship. Thus, I looked at his talk as a personal opportunity to learn how to have an effective companionship from a general authority. The miracle was, it was true! Everything he talked about there are things I can do in order to improve my companionship now and in the future. I need to view my companionship as very important and set up from God. We both need to have faith, and I need to help my companion continue to kindle his faith, as he does the same for me. Each of us will make mistakes, but we need to always be willing to repent and forgive our companions for their mistakes. Lastly, I need to always make sure I respect and love my companion. I should never have negative thoughts about him and I should always strive to bring our companionship in better Harmony. doing so will bring forth blessings and the spirit.
Her name is Ting. I met her walking on the street as she was heading to the train station to go home. She said that she came from China which is when I asked if she spoke Cantonese. She affirmed that she did and when I started to speak she was really surprised and started to laugh in disbelief. I am now less surprised by this reaction since it is quite common among people who hear me speaking Cantonese. But after a second she composed herself and started to ask what I was doing, why I know Cantonese etc. We had a great chat and I was able to ask her for help on some Cantonese phrases as she asked me for help with English ones. I kept walking with her to the park near the station, and not wanting to let a choice opportunity pass me by, I asked when her train would depart, she said that she had about 15 minutes upon which I asked if we could continue to have our discussion sitting down in the park. Pulling out a Restoration pamphlet, I was able to explain why I am here, what I do, why I was willing to learn Cantonese, and how the Restoration will benefit her life. She accepted a copy in both Chinese and English so she could use it for language study and said she would like to meet again. This was the longest conversation I have had so far in Cantonese outside of teaching a lesson. I was so excited! In addition to this one experience though, I met several other people that day with whom I also was able to talk about the gospel and invite them to learn more. I received that day several people who are potential investigators whereas normally I can only find 1 or 2 every couple of days. It was a miracle for me indeed!
One of the messages from conference that will change me actually came from Elder Clayton's address. I know that he was specifically addressing marriage, but the thought came to me right when he began speaking that each of the things he will talk about, will apply to my companionship. Thus, I looked at his talk as a personal opportunity to learn how to have an effective companionship from a general authority. The miracle was, it was true! Everything he talked about there are things I can do in order to improve my companionship now and in the future. I need to view my companionship as very important and set up from God. We both need to have faith, and I need to help my companion continue to kindle his faith, as he does the same for me. Each of us will make mistakes, but we need to always be willing to repent and forgive our companions for their mistakes. Lastly, I need to always make sure I respect and love my companion. I should never have negative thoughts about him and I should always strive to bring our companionship in better Harmony. doing so will bring forth blessings and the spirit.
Love you all HEAPS! :)
Elder Shafer
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