Canberra Zone Week 2

Dear everyone,

 

Happy Tuesday! We had transfers yesterday, and so that is why I am writing today instead of yesterday. Once again, a large portion of our zone left. Many trainers were split from their companions part way through training and those trainees are now trainers. It is remarkable to think of how well prepared these missionaries are. We have 3 areas in our zone now that are being run by a missionary who has only been out 6 weeks and is training a brand new missionary! It is quite remarkable to think of how they can do it. I know it would be a very large trial for me to be responsible for my area at that early on in the mission.

 

Things continue to go really well here in Canberra. It has been a mad house in our flat with zone meeting on Friday to where we had 8 elders stay in our flat that night with only 1 shower, and then the same thing was repeated on Sunday night because of transfers. We had to wake up at 4am yesterday in order to drive up to Sydney on time for transfer meeting. Even though Elder Ah Fook and I weren't transferred, we had to carry other Elders' luggage to and from, but it was good because we got to stop by Goulburn which is normally too far to drive to unless we are heading up that way. We visited one of our recent converts up there and his family and helped to strengthen them. They live about an hour drive from the Chapel, so it is really great to see them come to mutual and church every Sunday when its quite the drive for them.

 

So to explain a little bit more about what I do here as a Zone Leader:

1.) Rebuke everyone! haha no, just kidding, but that, unfortunately is what others think. We are really trying to change that image though. Many times in the past everyone "shapes up" when the ZLs come around because they are intimidated or afraid I guess, but Elder Ah Fook and I are really working hard at not having the elders view us in a negative way, but we want them to wish we are always there even though we cant be. We want them to #1 feel our love and gratitude for them. It was really great actually to see this pay off with one of the elders who got transferred. There was some times where we had to remind him of mission rules that he needed to keep, and it seemed that waking up on time and being to studies on time was always a struggle for him. However, as we kept just "loving the problem out of him." by being good examples and encouraging him, it payed off. As I was sitting with him the night before he left and we were sharing our testimonies with each other, he told me how thankful he was to have us as zone leaders because his trainer was not obedient and it was hard for him to start off right and thus, he has to overcome bad habits. But he said that us waking up and showing him that he could do it gave him inspiration to do it. Now, he wants to make sure when he trains, that he doesn't make the same poor choices his trainer did. I was really grateful for this. It was a great example to me of how being patient and loving always overcomes the motivation of fear and punishment. In Jacob 5:65 it mentions how we cannot "take away all the bad at once, let the tree die" This is an interesting theory. Often we think that we must "purge" all bad things from us as quick as we can, but in reality, if we change too much too quickly, we wont survive. If we cut off all the bad branches at one time, there may not be enough good branches to allow the tree to still grow, and thus the whole thing dies, likewise, if we try to correct every bad thing in someone or ourselves, we will very quickly realize how overwhelming of a task it is, and give up all together. But as we slowly work on improving one day or week at a time, we can change greatly over time.

2.) Being a zone leader involves a lot more planning and organization, which is good! I need to be better at this. We plan a lot of activites for the zone, help individual areas with things they need, do exchanges with each of the District Leaders for 24 hours to help them in their areas or see what work is like in our areas, and coordinate with the Assistants to the President regarding upcoming trainings, baptismal services, and other mission correlation.

I really like the work, but it definitely is a lot more work.

 

 

I need to jump off now, but I will post my email to President:

 

This week has been really good! We had a great zone meeting last Friday that helped me a lot to learn more about the zone members and the strengths of our zone. I really like it down here. The area is very different from where I have served in the past, but it is a good different :) Elder Ah Fook is the best! This week we saw a lot of miracles, but in relation to "preaching by the way" we have a very cool miracle. We were walking to an appointment and had a hard time finding the block because of how many different apartment buildings there were in that street. We saw a man taking a rest in his car and so we walked up and asked if he knew where the address was and started talking to him for a little while. He didn't know where the address was, but ended up giving us his and said that we could come back this week and talk with him again. It was a great miracle for us, but it was also an awesome opportunity for the new missionaries I was with. I was on a power exchange with Elder Howse and Elder Shelton who have both only been out for 6 weeks while Elder Ah Fook worked with their trainers. They really wanted to get some more experience talking to people since they are still a bit shy about it, and so I took them right down town and we street contacted for a little over an hour before heading to some other teaching appointments. This small miracle was right at the beginning of our exchange and really helped them to see how miracles can occur as we are always opening our mouths. I love these types of experiences! So many people around us are prepared and waiting, they just need the right time and invitation to make them say yes.
Another great experience we had was last night at a Family Home Evening. There is a family in our ward who is preparing to go the temple and be sealed next month. They invited us over for dinner and then to share the message for their family home evening. We centered it on prayer and asked how prayer has changed their lives, and then discussed how others could be beneffited by our prayers. At the time that we left, we asked who we could pray for so that they would be willing to join us for the next FHE. We walked away with 2 names that we can now pray for, who, with time, the family feels would say yes to joining them in the next FHE with us. Both of these experiences have been great as we are trying to implement the trainings received. We are becoming better at always opening our mouths, and always inviting as well as always seeking referrals whether they be non-member, less-active, or service oriented, we are helping the members here see that the missionaries are here to serve EVERYONE, and that all people need to come closer unto Christ.

 

Love you all!

 

Elder Shafer

Canberra Zone Week 1

G'day mates!

 

What a crazy week this has been! So, just a quick recap. Monday morning, Elder Ah Fook drove up here with Elder Delphin who flew home on Tuesday morning. Elder Ah Fook and I from that time on starting working together up in Sydney. We had to stick around for a couple days since we were having meetings on Thursday and Friday that we needed to attend, and so instead of driving for 3 hours each way, President just had us stay with the Assistants and the Fleet Elders and help wherever we could. That meant we helped Fleet a lot to prepare for the upcoming transfer (clearing out rubbish and broken furniture from the flats to prepare them for new missionaries, taking loads to the dump- they call it the "tip" here- installing new beds for missionaries and many other "behind the scenes" jobs that we dont think of right away when we think of missionary work. But because of these things, missionaries now will have clean flats with beds when they come rather than dirty flats and the floor with a small blanket to sleep on.

 

Then, Thursday morning we had a Mission Leadership Meeting with Elder Hamula. He is over all the missions in the South Pacific. His wife is the GREATEST! She is really funny and actually reminds me a lot of Anna's Mom, Sister Fielding. They have a very similar voice and personality- one of love and compassion for everyone. She said that she always feels honored to stand among so many missionaries because she thinks of all of our mothers and how much they would sacrifice to have the opportunity she gets so often. They both helped us a lot in regards to how we can be great leaders and also some training on how to help discouraged missionaries get back up on their feet and working again. Finally, Friday we loaded up in the car and headed down to Canberra. I about froze! Although it was the first day of spring yesterday, it still gets in the single digits in the night. But I will be wishing that it will stay cool like this in a couple of weeks because I hear Canberra get VERY hot in the summer since it is away from the coast.

 

Have to go soon, but really this week has been awesome. My world has flipped upside down now that I am living with 2 tongans, a Samoan, live in a completely opposite climate and am watching over 24 missionaries as if they were my children rather than focusing mostly on training 2. But I love it. The work is great!

 

About my Companion- His name is Elder Ah Fook. He is Samoan, but was born and grew up in California, near LA. There are 10 kids in his family and they are all in different walks and stages of life. He really has a powerful testimony of the Atonement and forgiveness because of some of his experiences in life. He shared it with me, but I am not sure he would want the whole world to know over the internet, so I will refrain from re-writing it. He is a fantastic missionary and I know he will continue to help me a lot in learning how to be a good example and leader for the zone. Our other 2 flat mates are from Tonga and are quite a crack up. They are both giants and laugh louder than anything, but I love it. The Islander people always love to laugh and to sing. We will often sing together in the morning to help us wake up and get going because it is really difficult to get the desire to exercise when it's freezing cold. The temptation to just sit in front of the heater to stay warm is sometimes difficult, so we will sing to help us warm up and get moving haha. 

 

I have to go now, but here is my letter to President:

 

Canberra is awesome! It was so great to finally get down here into the area. Living with the Assistants, fleet Elders, and the other Elders visiting for conference was great, but I was really glad to finally get down into our area Friday night and get to work down here. I have come to see even more how important planning is being a Zone Leader. Not only do we have to plan for our area to be a model and example, but we also need to plan for our whole zone, for trainings, for activities in the Stake and are constantly trying to lift and encourage the other areas in our zone. It is great and exciting work for sure! On the way down, we stopped by and visited Ashley Hall, the 13 year old boy who was baptized just 2 days ago and confirmed yesterday. He is awesome! My first day, I get to meet him and his family as they are preparing for the service the next day. I can't think of a better way to start off in a new area. Sacrament meeting was also a big and pleasant surprise. We had almost 170 people at sacrament meeting, which would be about 3 times as many as normally come to sacrament in the Cantonese branch I had attended last week. Though the ward is much larger, I can still see areas where we can improve a lot and I am excited to help the ward continue to grow and rescue those who desperately need the Lord's assistance and guidance in their lives.

Elder Ah Fook is the greatest! He really knows how to have a good relationship with the other members of our zone. I think a large part of the unity we have in our zone is because of his love and guidance. He is helping me continue to learn how to be a better leader and I am grateful for him. His own personal conversion story is a remarkable one as well and allows him to really testify of the Atonement with personal experience.

This week from studying about the Holy Ghost and it's importance in conversion, I have learned more how the Spirit will only be there to testify when we are doing it the Lord's way. We need to continue to stick to the basics and bear frequent testimony to have Him be there to bear witness. I have learned that realistically, we cannot control the Holy Ghost or force him in any way. We can't think that just because we are saying the truth that He will automatically be there despite all other things. We must do our part and show Him that He is invited, and when we have done that, He absolutely will come. This has been important for me to learn because it has made me think of ways that I can continue to improve so that I am inviting the Spirit at all times, prior to and during the lesson. For example, I have often wondered how I can continue to develop a good relationship with investigators and make them feel we care about them in their life without drawing away from the Spirit. Many times we will meet, say a prayer and then when we ask them how their week was, we get side tracked into subjects such as work or vacations which are not bad, but don't really invite the Spirit. I have found that as we take about 5 minutes or so before the prayer and get these questions and "small talk" aside, when we actually say the prayer and begin the lesson, it is much more gospel focused and so our investigators will have a greater ability to discern when the Spirit is there during the lesson and when He is not as we have left. Just this one small change I have seen has helped us to have more effective lessons. Another thing I have learned in Chapter 4 is to have faith and trust that He will be there when we have done our part. We need to remember that He is working even harder than we are to help these people, and so at every opportunity that He can, He will be there to lead and guide them, we just need to offer Him the right opportunities to do His job and not push Him away.

All in all, it has been a fantastic week and I am very excited for my first full week here in the Canberra Zone. So grateful that Elder Hamula shared some more insights and I was able to learn more and have an increased desire to ALWAYS open my mouth, especially in asking referrals, because we have quite a bit of finding to do ahead of us! :)

Love you all!

 

Elder Shafer

Bankstown 3 Week 11

Something new and unexpected is happening! President invited me into his office Friday morning before District Training meeting, and said "Elder Shafer, I have a new assignment for you." I started sweating and swallowed nervously.... I already had 2 missionaries I was training in a struggling little branch where I barely even speak the language and much less understand the culture, have to watch over my district which has 6 missionaries who have been in their new areas for less than a month, and now, what more do you want from me?! hahaha, No this didn't quite go through my head, but it was a shock. Then he asked if I would go and be a zone leader in Canberra ( 3.5 hours south) because the zone leader down there has to go home for medical recovery. Whoa!! I seriously just laughed for a second or two and then realized he was serious. Then of course I accepted and the thoughts kept coming that made this situation all the more crazy! But I think Elder Lam's and Elder Bartholomew's faces were even better when President told them I was leaving and that Elder Lam would now train Elder Bartholomew hahaha! Oh the Lord gives us some great suprises in life sometimes :)

I have to go home and pack now because I will be leaving the flat by 5pm, but I will attach President's letter as well as part of my letter to Adam.

This last week in Hurstville has been so great! Especially Yesterday at Sacrament meeting. It was such a reward and tender mercy for me to see many less actives who I have been working for and trying to bring back come. We had the most people that I had ever seen attend Sacrament! Although not nearly as many investigators as we had planned for were able to come, many less actives which were unexpected came! It was the largest Sunday School class and Sacrament meeting I have seen since being here and it truly was a great last goodbye as I know that I will be leaving today. The Lord always knows our desires and blesses us with tender mercies often. I am so grateful that He loves and cares about me. We had a great opportunity on Saturday evening to go and have dinner with a less active family. The mother and 1 daughter are less active while her husband is not a member yet. The youngest and active daughter invited us to dinner and it was a great success! Our first desire was to have investigators come to Chester's baptism, but when all invitations came back in the negative, we planned for the dinner. The lesson was focused in gratitude and displaying our gratitude through prayer. Since our branch here does not have home teaching or visiting teaching, we wanted to try and share the home teaching message with the less active members that we visit. We have found that this has been very successful! More people are willing to let us in when we show them that we have a message prepared from The Ensign. I think it may be less intimidating to them, and so far it has worked out well. We shared the message and they committed to pray daily and express gratitude for their blessings. We then continued to keep the conversation focused on missionary work (a member and his wife were there and so we kept asking them questions about when they were on their missions) and at the end, the nonmember husband, the less active daughter, and the less active mother said they would see us the next day at church. and..... THEY CAME! :) seeing them walk through the doors of the church for the first time since I have been here and probably for the first time in months previous was so great! Although it wasn't planned, the closing hymn "God be with you till we meet again." was great as well since it is one of my favorites, and as we were singing I was really pondering on how quickly these last 10 weeks have gone and how I truly have tried to help this branch so much. It has been great to know that I have left his area better than I found it. Though I did not witness any baptisms while here, there are now 3 investigators whom the Lord has prepared and who have committed to be baptised this month. It has been great to serve here. 

This week I have studied more about chapter 8 in how to be more organized and use time more wisely. I know as a zone leader, I will need to have this chapter mastered and in use daily. I have gone through again the area book and my planner to make sure that all things are up to date and I am using every apsect of these useful tools to the best of my ability. Though I was not very organized before my mission, I continue to improve in my organization here, and I am seeing how useful it is!

It took a while to get the branch up and running, but now we have 3 baptismal dates for this next month and a much better teaching pool. I really feel that this work has also been very different, but although I won't see any baptisms here, I know that I thrust in my sickle and did what I was meant to do.

That's about it for now. All in all, as you also know, missionary work is THE BEST!!!! I love these people so much! I never thought I would meet so many people from so many different countries. I have taught lessons to people from over 20 different countries as of now! That's pretty crazy in my opinion, I never thought I would have done that. From China to Laos, to Thailand, to France, to Germany, to Taiwan, US, Au, Brazil, and many other places, like Croatia! Where in the world is that haha? and Macau? Luckily I had a world map to look at because I had no idea where these people were from. I met one of the members from the very first Stake organized in Rwanda as well! That was awesome!

Love you all!

Elder Shafer

Bankstown 3 Week 10

Dear Family and Friends,

What a HECTIC week :) it was really awesome and it just FLEW by! My second companion Elder Bartholomew is so awesome! He is from Springfield, Utah, and is such a crack up!! He definitely is a very unique individual, but I just love working with him. My other son Elder Lam (when we train new missionaries, we call them our sons, and they call us fathers haha) and him are very different, but we do just fine together. I think the greatest thing about Elder Bartholomew is when he introduces himself to Chinese people because they have no idea how to repeat his name! It still makes me laugh even though it has happened quite often here. We really are so blessed here though. If you can please keep Susan and Jackie in your prayers that would be great! both of them are preparing for baptism this upcoming September. I wish I had more time to explain their situations, but both of them are amazing miracles in how we found them!

I love hearing of all the wonderful miracles that are happening back at home, Heavenly Father truly is so generous to us in pouring out blessings upon our heads. We received a text from an investigator of ours named Andy last Sunday. We had met with him before church and talked a while about priorities in our lives. He was very concerned with how difficult it is for him to work full-time, study part-time, and continue to meet with us, and come to church. He wants to come he says, but he feels it is hard for him to get enough time studying. Thankfully our Branch Mission Leader is in the exact same position as him and was able to add some personal advice. We talked to him about how the Gospel and our life are not two seperate things, but that the Gospel, when applied into our lives, makes our life so much easier and is a help! We promised him that as he would continue to pray, read from the scriptures, and attend church, the Spirit would be with him to help him study well and be effective in his time. He texted us and said that after our meeting, he felt he had one of the most productive day's of study he had ever had! It was a great testimony to me of how the Lord blesses us with things that are important to us, as we show that He is important to us. Here is my letter to president:

What a great week! Elder Bartholomew is such a great missionary! I can see his potential is immense, he just will continue to need time to bring it all out. It is really great to have such a PMG missionary already on board. He is an incredible addition to our companionship. It has been really enjoyable to help him overcome his fears as well. For him, as is natural with all new missionaries, talking to complete strangers about the gospel is intimidating. But the more that he does, I see his confidence grow and his desire continues to improve by leaps and bounds to share the gospel. It has been very interesting to learn how to transition to teaching, planning, studying, and finding in a group of 3 rather than just with one companion, but once again, the addition of testimony and talent the Lord has placed in Elder Bartholomew is such a great addition to our companionship. One of the greatest miracles we saw this week was in delivering the cookies we made as a branch activity for the less active members of our branch. Last Friday night we had a branch activity at the chapel where we baked cookies and wrote notes to the less active members we would love to see come back to church. We had everything ready to go and were so excited!! Only the Branch Mission Leader showed up for the activity though. At first, i was disappointed that nobody else was willing or available to come and help us with the rescuing effort of their friends and family, but I didn't let it get my spirits down. We did everything we had planned to do and we were determined to have these cookies bring at least one less active member back. Luckily, that evening a couple members showed up for other meetings or activities and we had them write notes to the members that they knew. As we delivered the cookies in behalf of the members who didn't have cars to deliver them, we felt great knowing we were doing something different that would have an effect. After all, who wouldn't love getting home made cookies from a friend of theirs and a hand written note to show some love after a hard day at work!? It was a success! Several members we had not seen in a long time were touched and said they would come to church the next Sunday and I think a big improvement was made to help these members develop friendships. 
This week we have been focusing a lot on effective finding and always, always seeking referrals. Though I still often forget, as I keep trying to improve and remember, I notice more miracles happening. One lady I talked to on the street said very quickly that she "was Protestant and didn't need saving." Though she didn't seem the most warm and friendly, I still felt I should ask if she knew anyone else who would benefit from hearing about Jesus Christ, as she rushed off to her appointment, she yelled back that her land lady only spoke Chinese, and could use help learning English and then gave us the address, before I could finish writing it and saying thank you she was running accross the crosswalk, but it was a great experience for me to remember, that even when people don't seem interested at all to talk with us, they know someone who would, and they may be willing to allow us to talk to them.

It really has been a great week, too many miracles, and too little time to talk about them all. Thank you all for your support, love, and prayers. Love you so much!

Elder Shafer

Bankstown 3 Week 9

Wow! Big news! I was just informed this morning while buying groceries that President Lew would like our area to work as 3 missionaries. Elder Bartholemew, who just landed today from the MTC will be joining Elder Lam and I. I joked with Elder Lam and let him know that President called and wants him to train 2 missionaries, myself and a brand new missionary from the MTC, his jaw dropped and he goes, "are you kidding!?" Haha it was good fun, but yeah..... please keep Elder Bartholemew and Elder Lam in your prayers as both of them will have to suffer from me trying to train them here in Australia. Those poor missionaries. We had so many miracles this week! I will let my letter to President let you know about them. We have to go to our Zone BBQ that we are already late for.... oops! :)

Love you all!

This week was the best that I have had in this area for sure! We saw so many miracles that happened between Friday and Saturday. To start off, our investigator invited us to have dinner together last Friday night to celebrate my birthday. So, I asked him if I could invite a couple of my friends from the branch as well. Since it was my birthday, he kindly accepted! But the greatest miracle was that both of them brought a nonmember friend, and also one of the recent converts that I taught in the city surprised me by showing up as well! It was so great to see many friends gathered together in friendship together. I kept pondering about how I could share a message with these wonderful people since the original lesson I had planned for that one investigator wouldn't be fitting for such a large group. I felt prompted to just share my story of how I grew up, why I came here on a mission, and how each of these people has affected my life so much. After I shared that, the conversation turned to having birthday cake and so forth, but after we finished eating and left the restaurant, one of the nonmembers said that she was really touched by what I had said and she expressed interest in hearing more of "my story." Thanks to good friends, who jumped on the opportunity, she went to church in the city the next day and will be meeting with missionaries up there. The other nonmember brought said that he would like to meet with us again as well! And the original investigator who invited us was greatly strengthened by the friendships made that night. It was quite a success!! 

On Saturday, we had quite a bit of finding time since we are continuing to build our area. There were great miracles that happened! We really wanted to invite all our investigators to Brad's baptism at 2pm, so we started calling and inviting everyone after our companionship study to give them some time, and while we didn't get any of our investigators to come, one of our potentials said she would love to meet with us that day. We met with her right before the baptism and before her appointment which was the same time as Brad's baptism. She is so prepared!! She commited to baptism, to come to church, and to pray daily! On Wednesday we will see her again and set a date and give her a copy of the Book of Mormon so she can gain a testimony of that. After we commited her to baptism she said "the only thing is, I want to make sure I know all the rules and guidelines that come along with being Christian. I don't like to break the rules, so I wont be baptized unless I know what I can and cannot do." She is very sincere and loved church. After the baptism, we came back and continued to find more since our other appointments fell through. Another miracle ensued! A young man named Yang invited us to sit down on the bench with him after we approached him and talked for a minute. At first he seemed to just compare what our beliefs were to his "cultural buddhism." Many people here are that way, they don't truly believe in buddhism, but it is a cultural lifestyle for them growing up, so they naturally follow those beliefs and such. But as we continued to testify and answer his questions, he continued to feel the Spirit more. He also commited to come to church the next day and offered the prayer before we left. I am so glad that the Spirit will lead us and guide us in all that we do. There are so many people in the world that it would be easy to just get lost talking to those who are not prepared yet. But as we continue to follow the Spirit and talk to everyone in our path, the Lord will place those in our path who are prepared, and on special occasions, he has clearly told me who I need to talk to. Each time a wonderful experience has followed. I know that I am only entitled to the companionship of the Holy Ghost as I continue to be obedient, and so I will always do all that I can to make sure I am exactly obedient to His will.

Bankstown 3 Week 8

Well, thank you all for the birthday wishes. It's weird to think that this Friday I will no longer be a teenager haha :) But I am excited to spend my birthday doing what I love most! So yes, as you know I am "training" Elder Lam. He is from Hong Kong, a convert of 5 years and is pretty awesome! I say "training" Because he already served 3 months in Hong Kong and is set up and ready to go! I am excited to be his companion! He is helping me a lot with Cantonese already! I love all of his great ideas and his broken English haha. It makes for some great laughs as I mess up in Cantonese and he makes some minor mistakes in English in our conversations. But between the two of us, we are fluent in both Cantonese and English, so it works out alright ;)

Had to respond to a couple Happy birthday emails so I didn't have as much time today, love you all!!!

Hello!! This week has been so great for Elder Lam and I! I hope it has been well for you and Sister Lew as well. It has been a pretty crazy week getting things all sorted out with the training meetings, explaining the area, establishing a good relationship with the new branch mission leader, and planning for some great activities the branch will be hosting for our upcoming "missionary month" that the branch is focusing on this month. But it has all been great! just one small question, you said I would be training. Well, Elder Lam is already trained and ready to go! :) His understanding of the gospel, teaching skills, obedience, and worth ethic amaze me! He and I are both going through the 12 weeks program together again, but I truly feel that it is not me training him one bit, but us reviewing and training one another. His 3 months service in Hong Kong before coming here to Australia has helped him tremendously and he truly is a great asset to this area. We had some great miracles this past Sunday! Studying Chapter 9 of Preach my Gospel as per your request gave me some new ideas for finding and we tried to put them into practice this Sunday after Church. Miracles happened! We were able to add 4 new investigators in the space of less than 4 hours, gave out all of my Restoration Pamphlets that I had in my bag, a copy of the Book of Mormon, and committed someone to watch the Restoration Video that we helped them to find on Youtube. It was an amazing day! :) I have come to realize more and more that when I find, the only thing I need to do is ask questions as directed by the Spirit, and testify. Doing this has brought more success than I could have imagined. I love to be a servant of the Lord and to testify to everyone that I can about Christ. The upcoming week will be another great one indeed, I already know it! :)

Bankstown 3 Week 7

WHAAA! Why does time always run out :( We once again had another crazy pday where emails had to be put at the end of the day, and I have to leave in 3 minutes to go and give a baptismal interview for a family in our district. Her and her son will be baptized tomorrow evening! :) They are from the Philipines, and are doing quite well. So 2 more baptized for our district!

 

So as you will read, transfers happened this last Monday. My entire district got transferred except for me and the travelling sisters. Myself and Elder Ng are splitting and we are both training new elders. We will pick them up tomorrow, so I don't know who it is yet, sorry! :) The new elders in our flat though are awesome! They are quite funny in their personality, but are very humble so I know they will have great success! One is from Japan and his English is...... improving :) the other is from Kalamath Falls, Oregon, so it is fun to know someone from the NW here as well!

 

Love you all so much!

 

Where has the time gone?! Elder Ng and I it seems just started our time together and now we are seperating so that both of us can train new missionaries. Time truly does fly when you are involved in the Lord's work! This week has been a rush but also has had some great miracles! Though the baptismal dates are still hard in coming, You will find that I am persistent and so I know we will get some this week. We have plans in motion to set 2 this week, so with faith and prayers it will happen. This week in regards to asking for referrals. There was this one investigator Elder Philips and I went to see when I was on trade offs with the Hurstville elders. It was an interesting meeting with him, mostly just us hearing his complaints about his neighbors and family, but after we shared about gratitude through reading the parable of the 10 lepers, He mentioned that we as missionaries should go around healing others as Christ did, and said specifically "you should carry with you a healing message to give to people." I dont think he knew exactly what he was saying because he was exactly right even though he was trying to make a mock of us in a joke. We do carry a message of healing! And funny enough, at the end of the lesson, I asked "brother Michael, we do like to share our message of healing with everyone, who do you know that we could share it with?" Immediately after he gave us a number and an address that we could go visit!, though he "didn't care much for the man" he thought he could use a bit of our healing message, so he gave us his details. Elder Philips was blown away and I thought it was a great miracle as well!

I am grateful for this opportunity to train a new elder. At your training you mentioned that we should feel a great responsibility and that we should not treat this lightly. I do. I will do my best to turn this young missionary into the best "preach my gospel" missionary he can be in 12 weeks. Because with how many more are coming, I wouldn't be suprised one bit if he starts training right after he is trained! That's my goal and vision for him, so I will do all I can to achieve it. This week has been a great one. We set a new record for our member present lessons this week, so that is quite exciting! We will continue to reach new and greater heights in the branch. Plus, we got a new Branch Mission Leader who is an RM and is very excited to help us turn this branch into a ward. It will take some time, but I know it's possible! Thanks for all that you and Sister Lew do for us. I can really feel your love and thank you for it

 

Love,

 

Elder Shafer