Ok so I have no time today, because...we had to
clean forever to make our flat spotless for them to come and see it and
take it from us, then the computers at the library decided to be dumb
and not work for me soo I am just barely getting on and we have to go
soon...sorry! Not my fault today :)
Fun fact, here the game telephone is called Chinese whispers.
This
week was one of those weeks where nothing seemed to go right, and
everything fell through, and people weren't very happy. We weren't able
to teach many lessons or find more people to teach or any of that jazz,
but it seems like an opposite week for almost everyone else. Our
mission has really been encouraging everyone to text or call the zone
leaders with miracles, and they send them out to everyone else in the
zone. Well one day this week, there were a lot of miracles being
reported, and it had been a particularly rough day for us, and it was a
bit frustrating getting all of these texts from others (I know, I know,
my focus was way off, and it is really exciting when others are having
success. And at the time I knew that, but wasn't feeling it. Which was
probably the problem ha). But anyways, we had to stop ourselves and
decide we were going to change the way we were thinking. We decided
that we were experiencing miracles of a different sort...so we sent in a
miracle report that said...Ok I don't want to think of how to explain
it, easier to look it up in the phone and just tell you...
"Once
upon a time, two of the chosen daughters of God, Sister Formica and
Sister Vaha'i reigned in the kingdom of Halls Head. They travelled the
land seeking to bring joy to their fellowmen. In the course of their
travels, they met many strange and wondrous people, none of whom were
ready to accept their message. However, wonder of wonders and miracle
of miracles, the fair sisters felt their faith, patience and diligence
growing as they continued on in their Father's work."
Yup we're nerds
haha. But you had to send it in a creative way. I know we still
witnessed miracles, and just because we didn't have much success doesn't
mean Heavenly Father isn't with us. Often we have to endure and go
through the trial of our faith before we receive the reward. And
President Uchtdorf (I think) said that growth oftens happens during the
waiting...ok that was wrong, but it was some cool quote that I liked
about waiting and growing. But waiting doesn't mean passively sitting
and doing nothing, but actively seeking and doing our best to find an
answer. So our miracles this week were mostly of the growing and
testing sort this week :) (I tried to find the quote she mentioned, but the www.lds.org site was down. But I did find this 2 minute video: "The Power of Hope" http://bcove.me/i7to17pf
I think I let my
focus shift from what was really the most important, and fall to myself
and what others are thinking. I know I cannot worry about that or I
will not be an effective missionary. As we focus on Christ, and move
towards Him, we are able to help others do so as well.
If
anyone has any background or info on Luke the physician before he
became an apostle, please send it my way. I met the nicest lady in the
library while my computer wasn't working. She is really devout in her
own faith, and is trying to find information about Luke. I told her we
would give her a call if we found anything, but I don't have much time
to look...
Got an email from Andrew Jergensen that Johnny Jensen my fhe bro (Family Home Evening Brother) freshman year is his AP! (Assistant to the Mission President -- translation, haha).
Do
you know anyone in Canada? (yes... it's a pretty huge country). This 17 or 18 year old girl in one of the
wards down south is going over I think in June or around there for
a month or two and she doesn't know anyone at all. Her mom is a bit
nervous and asked if I could try to find out a name or a number of
anyone at all...I'll ask Sister Jardine, but if anyone knows anyone, it
will bring this mom a lot of peace of mind ha. I'm not sure what part
she is going to, I think all over, for the women's world cup? (Ok, it's Edmonton, Canada according to Google).
Went
on exchanges to Bunbury this last week! It was a lot of fun! I love
learning from other missionaries--everyone has such a unique way that
they do things.
Another fun fact, even in
Australia mozzies love me. We were at a potluck dinner after a baptism
this week--most beautiful baptism ever! I'll have to tell you about it
in a minute...and there were a billion mozzies everywhere! And so now I
am really itchy and my hand was all swollen the next day. (I think mozzies are mosquitoes, and for anyone that doesn't know, Rebecca seems to be a mosquito and spider magnet -- I've never seen anyone get more bites in a shorter period of time than she does --probably because she's so sweet.)
Jess,
the lady who was baptized is amazing! She was being taught by the
elders, but she was researching the church for a year on her own before
she came to church and met them. She met a bunch of the women in our
ward at a park exercising. They invited her to join them, and she said
no, but felt like she should go, and she found out they were lds, and
they were all so nice and so happy that she was a bit suspicious and
went online to find out what was wrong with the church. Looked up good
and bad for a year and then she eventually came to church to find out
for herself. She bore her testimony and it was so powerful. Her
friends also bore theirs, and one of them was so funny, when she found
out that Jess had come to church, she was like, "Oh which of the girls
invited her?" And none of them had haha. It all worked out in the
Lord's timing, but something I have learned is that there is so much
power in a simple invitation. Gives someone the opportunity at least.
Also,
just a thought I had this morning, could you send me an otus set? And I
could give it to someone for a present and casually spread the word...
Next
week I will tell you about my all time favourite couple ever! I want
to be the American version of them in the future. They are power
missionaries...she served at Temple Square and He served here in Perth,
he was actually the AP for ages. They are both so amazing. They met
this girl from Italy at the beach a couple weeks ago--she is here
studying English, and they showed up with her at church yesterday and we
are going over for a family home evening with all of them tonight. And
they have the cutest baby on the planet!
So yeah Mom, if you could send me just a short list of Italian church words, that would be great :) Hopefully we can help her understand it. Good thing the spirit is the universal language. But it makes it a bit easier if they understand what you say.
But yeah...so much for my short email today ha. I wrote that a lot faster than usual.
I am so grateful to be here! I know that no matter what our circumstances are, we can find joy as we focus on the Saviour.
Oh and HAPPY EASTER!!! I'm excited!! We have to wait another week for general conference though...boo. Oh well.
(The church has a General Conference twice a year -- it's this Saturday and Sunday, April 4 & 5 at 9 am and 1 pm California time. You can watch it on www.lds.org or Dish, Direct TV, and Cable usually. Sounds like they get to see it the next week in Australia).
Have a wonderful week!! Love you all!
Love,
Sister Formica
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