Prep Week

So our main goal this week was to prepare Loretta as much as we possibly could.  Mission accomplished.  We taught the Plan of Salvation, Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Commandments.  She even said the closing prayer once!  It's been an interesting experience teaching her because she can't remember much at all.  It's often said that knowledge is the only thing we will take with us to the next life and that has made a whole lot more sense to me in the past week.  Loretta understands what we're teaching her and is fully capable of reading pamphlets, but just can't answer questions about what she's learned a few minutes later.  I am extremely confident that when she is resurrected, she'll remember everything she's been learning.  

As for the rest of the week, it was quite enjoyable.  On Tuesday, we helped Christine set up the basketball hoop and met the Port Elders for lunch on their way back up.  Elder Bell's new companion is Elder Hut'ka from the Czech Republic, so this transfer is gonna be way cool.  Friday was service day with lawn mowing, yard cleaning, table painting and then dinner with the Puru's.  Sister Puru is Aussie and Brother Puru (our Elder's Quorum President) is Maori.  They're so awesome.  And then there was Saturday.  Priesthood basketball and breakfast activity cheee that was sweet as.  I think that was the first time I've played like a real game since the MTC.  Spent most of it trying to distribute to Ephraim and Elias so it was way fun.  

Yesterday we had Stake speakers in Sacrament Meeting which is always nice.  Spicing things up a bit.  Usually that means the Branch doubles in size as well.  We had 63 yesterday!  There was a Filipino lady who spoke first and no joke she totally reminded me of Dean's mom.  She gave a really good talk on humility.  

This morning we went over to the Nessling's along with Brother Watson (our Branch mission leader) to help them chop down some trees.  They live in the bush side of Taree on a decent sized piece of land and there was a few dead tress they wanted to get rid of.  It's been really interesting serving here because I've been able to do things I'd never do in Mililani.  Sister Nessling took a few pictures when we chopped a little tree (I promised we had some much bigger ones go timber too) so hopefully we'll have those next week.  

Righty-oh.  Hopefully we'll have some good news next week! 

Love you's heaps!

Elder Muh

They've lasted me almost a year.

 Taree had this massive sale called Krazy Day, so I picked up some fresh kicks

The magic behind Elder Kumar's curries #MJ

Wish Granted

Man it's been a good week.  Started off with a pretty packed P-Day.  We helped a family move in down in Forster and then had dinner with the Moir family.  Tuesday we headed up to Port for trade-offs and that was so smash.  I worked with Elder Bell who's from Utah.  We were in the same Zone when he was born (started his mission), so it was cool to reunite.  Port Macquarie is such a golden area.  There's a ton of potential to tap into, so it's always exciting.  

Thursday was a pretty big day too.  We helped Sister Ballard fix up a pathway in her backyard and then took off to Gloucester to visit a few less-actives down there.  Came back to Taree and had dinner with Bev and Loretta.  We reviewed the Restoration with her and hope to keep her progressing. 

On Friday, we went down to Nabiac and helped Sister Aitchsion in her yard.  We braced 3 garden planter boxes and then cut down a tree with a chainsaw.  Unfortunately, we have no pictures though.  That night, we had dinner at Fred's and I thought it was gonna be my last supper, so we took a picture.  See below.  

The weekend meal streak continued when we visited Ephraim and Elias.  They're getting a basketball hoop, so we get to help them set it up tomorrow.  Rajah rajah.  Church on Sunday was good, we were able to discuss with President some things to help the Branch and look forward to applying that this transfer.  The lesson on marriage was quite interesting for Elder Kumar and I.  Haha.  Future goals.  After church, we had lunch at the Scott's and dinner at the Turner's.  At both places, we had a Tex Mex style meal.  Oh my heck it was so good.  They know me well.  

As for this week's title...  The past two weeks, in our weekly emails to President Checketts, we've asked him if we could stay here in Taree.  Well, he granted our wish and we got another 6 weeks here!  So grateful.  I really love this area and have created some awesome bonds here.  Looking forward to continuing to work in the area! 

Love you heaps,

Elder Muh 

Word of the Week

- Rellies, Relatives (Aussie's will shorten everything if they can) 

 What happens when a semi drives over the Manning Bridge

The hills are alive... #gloucester 

This is what happens when you find sweet lookouts and have a Book of Mormon 

Elias, Ephraim, & Christine

The Gloucester lookout 

The man who feeds us heaps: Fred

When you Meet a Cow

We started the week a bit slow, but towards the end, it started to pick up and we got a solid looking Week 6 ahead of us.  Elder Kumar got a bit sick early on, so we had to stay in and let him rest up.  

We've gotten pretty close with a family who has two less-active boys Ephraim and Elias.  The mom has us over for dinner pretty often.  Man I love going over there.  The boys have recently gotten into basketball, so we'll play a bit in their driveway and I'll give them a few tips.  We like to show them Mormon Messages and are currently working on getting them to read the Book of Mormon.  Tough task for a 9 and 11 year old.  Haha. 

So an update on Loretta.  Bev is such a good fellowship.  She loves the church so much and is so grateful for the help the members provide her at times.  We've found that we need to teach Loretta things a couple times before it'll sink it, but we know that as she reads the pamphlets, things will be reinforced.  She came to church with Bev and stayed all three hours yesterday though! 

Now, have you ever met a 90 year old man with 2 iPads and a Samsung Galaxy?  That's Fred for ya.  He upgraded recently, so in the last couple weeks, we've been helping him update the phone and get all the apps he wanted on it.  It's been pretty fun.  The most technological 90 year old I'm ever gonna meet. 

Yup, it's Week 6 again.  This transfer seemed to go by really quick.  It's looking like it'll be a heaps good week though.  #FinishStrong.  

Love you heaps!

Elder Muh 

Words of The Week

- Esky, Cooler 

- Chook, Chicken 

When you meet a cow...the dude was loose and he's a part of the fam #bro

 This is what happens when you have a few things in the fridge and a lot of time on your hands (sick comp).  Gourmet enough? 

 Made this scripture box two transfers ago, and finally marked up my mini quad for it 

 The artsiest tree path ever 

Unveiled tie number two yesterday.  I think it's pretty legit.  

Miracles in Taree

I think this week's title is pretty self-explanatory.  It's been pretty awesome.  I'd say we experienced three major miracles this week, although there are many more small ones that sometimes we don't even notice.  God's love never ceases and neither do miracles.

Numero Uno. So we have been meaning to work outside of Taree in two somewhat young areas for a while now: Forster and Tuncurry.  We finally made it down there this week and planned to begin by street contacting along one of the major streets.  We pull into the car park, Elder Kumar says a prayer, and then we hop out.  Literally five seconds later, we hear, in a mix of 5 different accents put together, "Elders, Elders! I haven't seen you brothers in ages!"  We turn around to find an old man pulling in a few cars down from us.  And that's how we met Laslo Tarjyani.  Dude got baptized ages ago in the Greenwich Ward, but has since gone less-active and then moved up here.  Needless to say, it was a pretty sweet miracle.  

Numero Dos.  There's an older sister in our Branch named Bev.  She's had a rough couple of years caring for her husband and what not, but is slowly regaining her strength and loves to have us over.  The funny thing about the Taree Branch is you could probably stay at these older members houses all day just listening to them.  The same applies to Bev.  Bev's sister, Loretta has pretty much permanently moved in with her and last week agreed to start having the lessons.  She's had them before, but is kinda losing her memory too, so doesn't remember much.  She knows how happy Bev is in the church and always says that the members are really nice.  Anyway, we taught the Restoration this week and the Spirit was definitely there.  Loretta even accepted the invitation to be baptized!  So we'll keep you updated on that ongoing miracle.  

Numero Tres.  We have  a less-active in the Branch named Adam.  He grew up in Taree, moved around a bit, and then came back.  A couple of weeks ago, we helped him unload a truck full of stuff he had in storage down in South Sydney, but we haven't been able to visit him since than.  Yesterday, we finally made it back and had a great visit with him.  As we were able to leave, his partner invited us to stay for dinner, so we ended up staying and chatting even longer.  Adam pretty much knows the church is true, but just isn't ready to come back yet.  He's heaps open to having the missionaries over and is always grateful when we come.  I felt like last night we really strengthened our relationship with him.  We talked about some of the most random things from surfing to skydiving and why Hawaii shouldn't be a part of "The United States of the World".  It was a good night.  

Every morning during our companionship study, we have a few recitations.  Each mission does it similarly as well.  We have one that begins by saying in the Australia Sydney North Mission, we are disciples of Jesus Christ.  What follows is an acronym for the word disciple.  L stands for "love is the power to change others" and E stands for "example is my greatest message."  Those two have always stood out to me and I've really been trying to work on them.  As members of the church, and especially as missionaries, we should always be a great example, and trying to do that has really allowed me to go out and serve.  With love, Christ always served with love.  When people can truly feel your love and the love of God, they can change.  That is how strong it can be.  The Gospel can work a mighty change in people, and I know it will!

Love you heaps,

Elder Muh 

 Take me back to the day hamburgers cost 5 cents! 

 Rockin' Mom's ties to church