Elder Nelson's Mission in Perth Australia

This week has been awesome. The Kalgoorlie area has been on fire. Mostly because it has been super-hot but also because we have been able to find a lot of people who are keen to hear the message. So on Monday we had a meeting with our ward mission a leader where we created a ward mission plan to present in ward council. It is really based on helping individuals and families create plans for ways they can share the gospel. On Wednesday we had another meeting with Hoje the man from China we are teaching. He is leaving this week to head back to China and we will definitely miss him. Being able to meet with him has really helped me realize how blessed we are to have always been able to attend church where ever we have lived. Some place in the world like China don't have as many members and it can be hard for them to meet together. Hopefully he will be able to get in contact with the members in China when he gets back. That evening we had dinner with a lot of the members of ...

So this has been a pretty crazy week with the new year as well as transfers. So on Monday because it was new years eve we had to be back in the flat by 6 and couldn't leave. We did some packing and then finished updating the records so that the new elders will know what they are doing. On Tuesday we went around to all of the members that lived in our area to say goodbye. It is interesting because three of us elders in Geraldton are leaving and the elder that is staying is coming up to our flat with his new companion. And then they are bringing a companionship of sisters to cover their area. The nice thing is that Kalgoorlie and Geraldton are in the same district so we still get to talk to them. On Wednesday morning me, my companion, and the other elder that is leaving loaded the bus and 6 hours later we arrived in Perth. We got picked up by Elder and Sis Daley who are the senior couple that manage the cars, bikes, flats, and referrals. Elder Afualo and I ...

G'day mates. Well since it has only been about 4 days since I emailed last week, this will be a shorter email I think.  This week we have been doing quite a bit of contacting in the parks downtown. It is always fun talking to the different people. There is a lot of tourists that come here so we talk to people from Japan, China, France, Germany and heaps of other countries.  Anyway, I had this funny experience contacting the other day. My companion needed to use the toilet so while he was in the toilet I was just standing outside doing nothing so I decided to say a silent prayer that God would send someone to me that I could talk to. It was cool because less then a minute later this random guy walks up and said "Hi elder how are you". I was like wow that was fast. It turns out he was a member from one of ward in Perth.  On Friday we had an appointment with one of the part-member families in our area. We took one of members with us and had an a...

Merry Christmas everyone. I hope everyone's Christmas was as awesome as mine. This past week and a half has been pretty great. So on Tuesday last week all four of us missionaries up here in Geraldton traveled down to Perth for a special country zone conference (for all the missionaries serving in country areas) as well for a Christmas conference. We took the bus down which is a 6 hour ride, but about halfway down we got stopped for about an hour because of an accident ahead of us. We finally got to Perth and the assistants took us to the chapel for our country zone conference. It was pretty cool because it was the first time that all the country missionaries had ever been all together ever in mission history. Usually once you get transferred to a country area you don't get to go come down to Perth until you get transferred again. So it was a cool opportunity to see all the other missionaries. During the conference they shared about the four things that we ...

This past week has been busy and we have done heaps of service in the town. For example on Wednesday we went and helped one of the members move some of his massive toolboxes from his old house to the old fire station in town. On Thursday we were riding our bikes to an appointment when a car drove past and then stopped and reversed. It turned out to be a member family that was on their way down to Perth from Karratha which is over 1000 km north. It was pretty cool to run into them. On Friday morning we had a service with the other elders and raked up heaps of leaves for one of the ladies the other elders met. Then afterwards I went on exchanges with Elder Logo (pronounced like longo; it's kinda funny because all the other missionaries in the branch have really hard names so even though I am the newest, I'm the only one they actually call by my name ) Then on Saturday morning we drove out of town a couple kms to a place called mills lookout. The ...

This week was pretty crazy. So on Monday I had my last preparation day here in Butler. We also met with the Anitereas who we have been teaching and I am sad to go but I look for hearing about their baptism in the coming weeks. Then on Tuesday was my birthday so the other elders came and surprised me with a cake. Then the rest of the day I finished packing and said good bye to a couple of the members in the ward. Then on Wednesday we got up early and the zone leaders picked me up and took me to the bus station in Perth. Then I loaded my stuff on the bus and then for the next 6 hours I travelled up to Geraldton all by myself. The ride was pretty cool and I saw a family of wild emus which was awesome. When I got to Geraldton I met the other missionaries and my companion Elder Afualo. He is pretty cool. He is straight from Samoa and has been out for just six weeks. The area here is pretty nice and has heaps of potential. The town has ten times more people here than ...