Melbourne Mission Moments
Well this week was basically just
HOT! Seriously. So stinking hot. I thought I was literally going to melt. But
it was a really good week too!
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| Birthday cake at Bishop's |
Monday, on my birthday we had our
zone p-day. We went laser tagging which was so fun! And pretty cheap too. After
that we came home to get changed and get ready to go to Bishop's for dinner.
They made a delicious dinner including cauliflower because I told them that I
love it. Then we had a chocolate ripple cake for dessert. They even did
birthday candles which was so nice of them. After we got home we were sitting
planning when there was a knock at the door. I opened the door to find a cake
sitting on the door step with a lighted candle in it. The Elders had made it
and dropped it off which was so nice. It was a really good birthday!
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| My birthday dinner |
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| Birthday cake #2 from the Elders |
Tuesday morning we had district
meeting. It was a really good meeting. At the end of the meeting the Zone
Leaders were talking to us and Elder C shared an experience and then they gave
promised blessings that each of us can call down miracles and we can baptize
monthly. As they were talking, I started to cry. I didn't realize it but I was
still feeling really overwhelmed. After the meeting Elder C gave us a really
nice note saying that he had given that promised blessing specifically for me
and Sister B and told us that D&C 111 was written for us. Our District
Leader came up to me after the meeting and asked if I was okay. I told him that
I was but got teared up as I said it and he could tell that I wasn't. I had him
and the Zone Leaders give me a blessing and it was exactly what I needed. I
instantly felt so much peace and felt Heavenly Father's love for me so
strongly. Sister B and I were able to go back to the flat for lunch and we
studied D&C 111 together. That section has changed my mission. There was
literally something that stood out to me in every single verse. I don't have
time to go into the details of what I learned and gained from it, but to
summarize, I felt really strongly that there are treasures (people to teach) in
this city for me and Sister B and as we rely on the Lord, He will help us to
find those people. And I love the promise at the end. Heavenly Father basically
promises to give us blessings as fast as we can receive them. I am so grateful
for the amazing leaders I have, especially our inspired Zone Leaders who knew
exactly how to help us, even when they didn't know I was struggling. The rest
of the week I feel like I've been able to act with so much faith and confidence
in knowing that Heavenly Father is going to bless us. I know He will.
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| Chalk Plan of Salvation (haha ignore the ad on the wall behind it. I didn't realize it was there) |
Tuesday afternoon it was so HOT! 41 C
which is like 105 F! We decided to get creative in our finding so we drew the
Plan of Salvation on the sidewalk outside of the grocery store and talked to
people about it as they walked by. It was so successful! It was awesome. After
a few hours in the stinking hot sun, we were both out of water so we stopped by
a member's home to get some. While we were there her foreign exchange student
from China came home. She is 15 and is so cute! As we explained that we were
missionaries, she asked us to teach her more about Jesus Christ. It was so
awesome! That night we had dinner with an awesome couple in the ward. Since it
was so hot, Sister A hadn't really felt like cooking so she made sushi. At
first I was thinking, "Oh no. The last time I had sushi was in like 8th
grade when J.J. Tsukamoto's mom made it for us." But I couldn't be rude so
I ate it anyway and guess what... I liked it! It was so yummy. Granted, it was
chicken and not fish, but still. I was so surprised that I liked it!
Wednesday it was super hot yet again.
This time 43 C. That's 109! We didn't have appointments or anything in the
morning/early afternoon so we had to go finding. It was so hot. We talked to
people at the station for a few hours and then we tracted for about an hour or
so. I like to think that we are going to get extra blessings because it was so
hot ;) While we were tracting we wrote a song:
Australia
Melbourne Mission
We're
going to do some tracting
The sun
is brightly shining at 43 degrees
And in
the sun we're melting, melting, melting
In the
sun we're melting but we'll get through with ease.
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| So hot! |
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| I love my companion! |
In the afternoon we went to visit the
sweetest woman in the ward. He husband died about 15 years ago from cancer so
she lives all by herself but she is so sweet. You could tell she was so happy
to have us there. We had dinner with a family that night (wraps because yet
again it was too hot to cook) and then we were able to teach our 9-year old
again. He basically changes his mind every day as to whether he is going to get
baptized, but I know as we teach him more he will be more confident in his
decision.
Thursday morning we had Golden Review
at the mission office for all of the Goldens and their trainers. It was a good
meeting and they gave us lunch after which was so nice. I got to see Sister
Stevenson there which was awesome. She told me that a young girl in my previous
area is getting baptized on February 15th! Hopefully I get to go back for it!
It's a good thing that we were inside for a lot of the morning because Thursday
was the hottest day. At one point around 3:00 it was 47 C! That's 116 F!!! SO
STINKING HOT! We saw our sisters that afternoon and they have no AC so it was
so hot! We were able to teach them more about church and what goes on there. We
weren't able to stay very long because they had family coming over so we set an
appointment for Friday. When we got up to leave, literally all four of us had
wet spots on our bums because it was so hot. Haha. The one girl was like,
"It looks like I peed my pants!" That night we had Ward Council at
Bishop's house. They had everyone's families there and did a barbeque and then
people started getting in the pool and swimming. Ah man, I wanted to swim so
badly. It looked so nice because we were melting.
Friday was still really hot, 43 C
again. It's hard to be very successful when it is so hot because no one is home
or out and about. Everyone is at the pool because that is the only possible way
to stay cool. We went to our appointment with the sisters and they were gone at
the pool. That evening we were able to have dinner at the H's house and then
have a lesson with Brother and Sister H. Brother H is not a member. We were
able to talk about Heavenly Father and how He is our literal Father and we
talked a lot about prayer. Brother agreed to take baby steps in learning more
about the gospel and actually asked us to give him a Book of Mormon reading
assignment which was really cool. I really feel strongly that he is going to
get baptized some day. I can picture him in white and serving a mission with
his wife. Friday night it started to rain a little bit and there was a lot
of thunder and lighting. The rain really cooled things off which was a welcome
change! Apparently there's a bunch of fires because it's been so hot!
Saturday we had a meeting with the
ward mission leader and the Elders which was really good. Our ward mission
leader really wants to help us which is great. After that we did some finding
and follow up in the afternoon. Then we were able to have another lesson with the
young man from Burma. He asks really good questions and is really keen! We were
able to teach him the first half of the Plan of Salvation and commit him to
baptism on February 22. The main concern is getting him to come to church. He
feels like it's too much of a commitment to come so this week we are going to
explain to him better about church so that he feels more confident in coming.
After our lesson with him we went to try to catch the sisters we are teaching but
were unsuccessful. Hopefully we can still go back and have another lesson and
help them to progress!
Sunday morning we had a meeting at
7:00 am which meant we had to get up quite early. Gotta love early mornings. Our
9-year old was our only investigator to come to church but we were happy to see
him there. After church we went to ward choir practice. We had a little bit of
time in the afternoon and we were doing a little bit of finding. We met this
woman and her little girl. As we were talking to her she stopped us and
explained that her daughter had recently started asking about God and about
church. She said that she has never been to church except for a wedding and
that she wants to go visit one. AH!!! So awesome. She is so prepared! We were
able to get all of her details and we are seeing her later this week. After
that we went to the chapel for a baptism of a little boy in the ward. They had
a lot of non-member family there which was awesome! After the baptism we had
plans to go try to meet a few of the less-active families in the ward but we felt
like we should we go to the train station instead. So glad we followed that
prompting because we met 6 people who we were able to set return appointments
with! It was amazing!
I love being a missionary. I know I
say it every week but I truly do. Heavenly Father is so good to us and we see
miracles every day! I am so grateful for the people I get to meet and the
things that I learn here. I know the church is true.
Love y'all heaps!
Sister Baker xxx
P.S.
Also, everyone in Australia is
obsessed with AFL (Australian Football League). The team I chose is the Hawks
because their colors are Brown and Gold (go Davis High). Anyway, it seems like
a really cool sport and I think you'd like learning about it. Go to YouTube and
watch a video a member told me about. It's called something like AFL
Explained or something.
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