Up & Down the Mountain We Go

So the area isn't as big as I thought it was gonna be.  A lot of it is just the green on the map that needs to be covered by somebody.  But we have suburbs all over the mountain which I really like.  There's actually a lot of families that live in the suburbs up there which makes it pretty fun.  Also, since it's cool to talk about the weather, last night we got 12 degrees up in Blaxland, which is about 60 Fahrenheit.  When we hit 10 or below, I am gonna get so excited.  

Anyways.  We've been doing a lot of finding this week.  To be honest, this area's been kinda dry for a while, so it's gonna be tough for the next few weeks.  We went through the Area Book, hit the trains, and even tracted, which I feel like I haven't done for a long time.  Elder Dransfield's spent a lot of time up in the bush, so he actually prefers tracting.  Now we're just tryna get creative in our approach.  

Emu Plains Ward is one of the smaller one's in the Stake, but I think it'll be good for getting to know everyone quickly.  Some of the members are real keen to feed us too, so that'll help heaps.  We blessed the sacrament yesterday, which I don't think I've done since Taree.  And I think I witnessed the best Elder's Quorum lesson ever yesterday, simply because of how personal and thought out it was.  For those familiar with the jokes about High Priests Quorums, EQ's are pretty much exactly the same, just with younger dudes.  "Alright brethren, take out your manuals and turn to..."  The EQ President based his lesson on President Monson's Conference talk a few years back that's associated with the "Dare to Stand Alone" Mormon Message.  He posed the question "what do we stand for"?  And the participation was unreal.  

MLC and trainings this week, plus more finding.  Let's geeet it.  

Love you heaps!

Elder Muh

Sending off Elder Maea

Elder Lutovio on transfer Tuesday

This person didn't choose the right... 

Some Australia. houses have names.  I believe this one is "thank you's" 

Took me 19 months to find Chex in Oz

Terrible shot, but the leaves changing color up here yeee

And if you look out in the distance, you will see... The city! 

The comp: Elder Dransfield from Idaho

Time for Change

Well, it's been a pretty cool final week.  The big news is that the Zone Leader area is moving to Emu Plains (same Stake, area is about 20-30 minutes over, but we live in Penrith which is 10-15 minutes away).  We actually were given this news back in Week 3, so there were no surprises on the transfer call aside from who my new companion is, which is Elder Dransfield, from Idaho.  

It's been interesting because normally during Week 6, you start to transition and set things up for the following transfer.  Although we have been setting up, we had no idea who we were setting up for.  When you area gets "shotgunned", meaning both missionaries leave the area, you write up a Shotgun Report.  Usually, missionaries have a couple days to do so, so the report doesn't give much.  We've had much more notice, and have tried to put down everything we know about the people we're working with, so the transition will be smooth.  

We have good news to report with the Brybag Family, who have set a baptismal date for the 17th of June!  Their youngest son turns 8 the week before, and Sue has been saying all along she'd love to go with the whole family, so it's perfect.  We found out this week that she's going through the Book of Mormon for the second time now #wut.  Now it's all up to Gus!  He totally knows it's true.  Hopefully having his wife and two sons baptized as well with bring him confidence too.  

I got to work in Emu Plains this week with Elder Lutovio who is so fresh it's funny.  He often reminds me of Elder Young Yen.  The Emu Plains Ward is one of the smaller wards in the Stake, but it covers quite some ground.  The border runs near the base of the Blue Mountains, so it should be a bit colder than it is down in St. Mary's, which I am stoked for.  I've only been in Claremont for 6 weeks, but it'll be hard to leave behind everyone that we were working with.  Now that I've gained some finding confidence though, I'll need to apply it with Elder Dransfield so we can build up that teaching pool.  

Transfers tomorrow.  We got some good missionaries coming in, which I'm excited about.  Also, I'll be living with Elder Usua again (HAHA!). 

I apologize to everyone that I haven't replied to the past two weeks, we've had some busy P-Days.  I'll try my best to get to everyone next Monday.  

Love you's heaps!

Elder Muh

Rest of the pics from the Blue Mountains trek last week: planted some American flags out there. 

Final DTM this transfer

Spirit-Filled

It was a pretty mean weekend, but I'll highlight the week first.  I got to work with Elder Flake this week and it was heaps cool to see how much we've grown since way back when.  Brotherhood feel strong.  

I learned a lot about testimony this weekend.  We had Elder Snow (the Church Historian and member of the Seventy) as well as Brother Nielson (assistant Church Historian and Managing Director of Church History) along with their wives spend two hours with us during our Special Training.  From everything they shared with us, it was evident of how strong of a testimony they have.  They love the Gospel and working with Church artifacts only strengthens it.  

Fun facts:

1. There are eight Quorum's of the Seventy. Two Quorum's are General Authorities and the other six are Area Authorities.  

2. 28% of the original Book of Mormon manuscript still exists today 

3. For many questions, there are Gospel Topic Essays on lds.org to help answer them

Something Elder Snow shared with us is that prayer and scripture study will make the difference.  Those two are probably the biggest habits that we build as missionaries and I'm trying to solidify them so that they remain strong.  A common theme between the Nielsons and the Snows was the Book of Mormon and remembering, specifically how merciful the Lord has been.  We must remember what brought us to where we are now and what caused our testimony to grow.  Sister Snow knows that the Book of Mormon is scripture because as her perspective changes, different verses specifically apply to her life.  

Then we got to hear from Elder Cardon in Stake Conference.  We were very privileged to hear from him 3 times.  He invited us to repent, and if we knew not of, pray to have the Lord tell us what.  William McClellin's experience was shared, along with a story of President Eyring, explaining that even a man that humble turned to the Lord in knowing how he could be refined.  It was really cool to hear from someone who meets with the Prophet and Apostles regularly.  He knows how real the Gospel is and shared a few examples from his own family in teaching us about principle, doctrine, and application.  

President Checketts taught that a testimony should be mainly based on feeling and then gave 10 things that we can do to be "decatha-Saints".  In short, daily scripture study, fasting with meaning, retire and arise early, be essentially a happy person, work hard, focus on how I serve not where, love everyone and serve them, unify myself and others, and share my testimony.  I love our Mission President.

Last week of the transfer.  Big news coming.  

Love you's heaps!

Elder Muh

She had no idea what "caramel walls" were, but fun to have Starbucks down under

(Caffeine-free of course:)

Uncle Kevin's cousin (Brother Su'a)

Back at it! 

Having some fun at the lookout 

Going for the Teddy Roosevelt in Night at The Museum look 

The leaves be changing colooor out in Katoomba! 

'Bout a Year Ago Part 2

Yup this week flew.  We had two trade-offs, interviews, and then Easter weekend.  We're trying to stay on top of the organization in our area while still serving the Zone and working with the Elders in it.  

I forgot to take a picture on one of the trade-offs, but I got to serve with Elder Galarion.  We came in together and had a trade-off our second transfer of the mish way back when.  It was cool to see that progression.  He's pretty confident in talking so it was cool to work off of each other.  We were waiting for a train at one point, and he said hi to the cops so we had a quick conversation with a police officer who turned out to be Samoan.  Pretty funny.  

My second trade-off was with Elder Enkhtuya who is from Mongolia.  I served in the Newcastle North Zone the same time as him.  It's always fun to talk to him and see what Mongolia is like.  A lot of people headed out this weekend, so there weren't tons at home or about, but we had some good talks with peeps headed to the Easter Show in the city.  

Easter was good.  I was asked to speak on a talk entitled The Atonement Covers All Pain and so I got to spend the week reflecting on the Atonement and how I would present my talk.  It was good to focus on the true meaning of the holiday (like Christmas) and not all the chocolate on special at Coles.  

Another busy week upcoming.  We have a 5 Zone Special Training with Elder Snow, the Church Historian, as well as Stake Conference this weekend and Elder Cardon from the Area Presidency will be visiting, so it should be good.  

Love you heaps!

Elder Muh

P-Day at Krispy's take 2

Ball is life 

Found me a left-hand drive pure American truck 

Exchange with Elder Enkhtuya 

Blue Mountains P-Day yesterday (more to come today) 

Teaching the 10 year olds in Primary 

Claremont, Mincho, and Leura Elders at the top 

Lookout of Wentworth Falls 

Some new missionaries came in this week so President had to move a few around.  You'll never guess who our new flat mate is.  Elder Flake! 

Over a Year in the Making

Wow okay so this week went by really fast.  I feel like this one could be really long (as usual) so I'll try to stay focused.  I'm gonna backtrack and fill you in on a few things before I start talking about the first experience. 

About a year ago, my companion and I got a call from the Assistants.  We were struggling to find new investigators and weren't having much success.  They wanted to go on a trade-off us with us and we were terrified.  Fast forward a year, and I was so stoked to go on exchanges with the Assistants.  Haha time flies.  The last time I was on a trade-off in the Greenwich Ward area was about a year ago right before Easter, so it was way cool to be back.  Lastly, before I trained Elder Flake, Elder Ball (Mandarin speaking, but we came to Australia together) and I were supposed to be temporary comps before our new ones arrived, but I ended up staying with Elder Lamipeti for those couple days.  It took a while, but we finally got it! 

So the Assistants are one of three companionships serving on Macqaurie University.  Their area is basically a loop from the bus stops/train station to the uni campus.  And they find there all day.  We street contacted for about 6.5 hours that day and it was wayyy cool.  The students would stop to talk to us, which I feel has never happened to me before.  I learned so much that day, and gained heaps of confidence.  One thing we worked really hard on was asking and listening, so that our response/teaching would be genuine.  It felt much easier to teach them because we were similar ages and could relate much more.  I think the funniest thing would be when Elder Ball was teaching in Chinese and Australians would walk by double taking.  The gift of tongues is real. 

And then General Conference.  I still don't know which talk was my favorite, because a whole bunch of them gave me ideas as to how I can improve as a missionary and as a leader.  We had an investigator at the Sunday Afternoon Session and during Elder Costa's talk, he was locked in.  Afterwards, he asked me who can baptize.  The brothah totally feels the Spirit, it's mean. 

There were some things that I noticed, and I'll start will Elder Bednar to do so.  He always prays the Spirit will be with him.  I find that super humbling because he's an Apostle of the Lord, but prays for it every single time.  He also repeats things for emphasis.  "All things are brought together in one in Christ" is something he told us in our Worldwide Missionary Broadcast.  Some others things talked about more than once were Conference being held in Salt Lake City, no football on Sunday, "which light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day", The Living Christ, hymns being used as a base for a talk, "the more excellent way", people attending the session in which they are being talked about, "the rising generation", something Bruce R. McConkie said, How Firm a Foundation verses 1, 2, 3, & 7 (Elder Bednar's favorite arrangement and the way MoTab always sings it) and Elder Aidukaitis (closing prayer of the closing session) who is known in our family for saying "one must not roam through the garbage". 

Great stuff.  Loved Conference and excited for the May Ensign to come.  Two trade-offs this week, let's geet it!

Love you's!

Elder Muh

Trade-off with Elder Ball

The lolly line-up for the weekend

The Penrith Zone! (Elder Tahere is behind me in the orange tie and Elder Lutovio is far back left.  They've been my first two trade-off comps, but we failed to take pics.  Elder Lutovio is from the same Stake as Elder Young Yen, whose sister arrived in our mission this transfer.)