" I love doing the Lords work! "......Week 57

Hey everyone! 

So this has been a good week, it sso hot though. I'm not really a big fan of Christmas in the summer haha. But I'm loving Ropes Crossing! It's literally 90% Tongans and Samoans. Our ward only has 1 white family in it. I love them though, they are gonna make me so fat haha. When they feed the missionaries they feed us good. Like you're about to pop, you get a massive amount of food and then they bring the next plate haha and the next and the next.... they are so awesome though and help us so much. Our fridge is never empty. 

So this week we show up to church and we are sitting listening to the first speaker when our phone buzzes and my companion hands it to me and it says from bishop.  So I read the message and it says, elder white will you be our second speaker and talk for 15 min about the birth of Jesus Christ. I had like a minute to gather my thoughts and away I went. Luckily im used to that after Port Macquarie haha.

On Christmas we are doing a zone breakfast and secret santa so that will be good, and then we have breakfast with a member and lunch with another one and dinner with another family and probably more inbetween haha. 

We had fhe last Monday where we get all the recent converts and our ward mission leader together and have a feed and a thought. And one of the recent converts brought a friend.  We talked for a while and were able to set up an appointment for later in the week. We went and taught the restoration, This man is high up in his church so we were a little apprehensive on how it would go but it was awesome. He had great questions and loved the Book of Mormon. The member who is his friend said that he couldn't stop talking about the lesson all week. We see him again tomorrow so we are pumped for that! 

The mission is going awesome. It's crazy to think a year ago I was in west Virginia being trained. Time flies so fast on the mish. You have to use every minute to the fullest. We are working hard, we stay out as long as we can and taking a hour for lunch is too long so we usually cut it short. I love doing the Lords work! 

Love you all!

Elder White

"It's true and it works for everyone who will put their all into it.".....Week 55

So this was an awesome week because Allan got baptized! It was great, we met in a members home and did it in his pool! The nearest font is over an hour away so we either do it in the river or pool up here. 

Transfers are comming up so I might be out of Port Macquarie.  I have been here 4 and a half months now so it could be anytime. I am hoping to stay at least one more but we will see! 

So it was a pretty normal week as far as misison life goes! We saw our people and found some sweet new investigators! On Wednesday the zone leaders came down and did a trade off with us which was heaps fun.  During our lunch hour I took the one I was with out to feed some wild kangaroos since he had never seen any. He loved it! But we had a cool experience that day.  We had gone that morning to see an investigator and she said she was busy all day, so we were like ok no worries we will catch you around! and left but a couple hours later we felt like going back.  We were in the area so we decided to just go for it. We walked up and they were sitting in her side yard with a friend. We said hi and started talking and our investigator asked her friend if he would want to hear our message. He said sure so we sat down and taught the restoration. He loved it and asked for a book of mormon to read so we are excited to see him continue to progress! 

Nothing to crazy happened this week, well actually elder parkinson got bit by a spider and his leg started doing some weird stuff but he is getting better! Everything in australia is out to get you haha. 

I like this quote by President Monson, "He who gives money gives much, he who gives time gives more, he who gives himself gives all." 

Missionary work is interesting, It's something that changes with each person you meet.  There isnt a set way that will always work, or a certain way that is best to teach the discussions. You have to have the spirit for it to work.

Its amazing to see the gospel working miracles in people's lives. We are so lucky as missionaries and members to be able to see it change the lives of the people we love for the better.  

these are the boys we teach, they are crazy haha, this is us messing around outside

this is one of the tiny towns we cover, the people here are what the aussies call bogan, which means red neck 

the country side is so pretty here

they have massive trees here, they are seriously all over the place, i love it!

This is Allan right before his baptism, he said he never smiles for photos so that right there is as far as we could het him to smile haha, he is awesome though!

Love  you all!

Elder White

"It's almost like I can't remember not being a missionary haha." Week 53

G'day mates!

So this week was a nice week. We had some cool experiences and got some new investigators! 

So we were out tracting about a week ago and we had just stopped by a members home because one of their friends passed away unexpectedly. So we talked to her for a bit then went out finding. We were walking down the street knocking on the occasional door and were not seeing much success. But we kept on going. Then about a hour and a half later we decided we would knock one more and said a pray in our hearts we would be led to someone who needed to hear our message. We both felt to knock on number 24. So we walked down the street, found 24 and went up to it. We knocked on the door and they answered and said "come on in". Those 3 words make everything else worth it. So we went in and started chatting and she mentioned she was actually kinda mad right now because a friend of hers had not showed up for their lunch date thing yet and it'd been like an hour. Then she mentioned the name and my comp. and I just looked at each other and realized that it was the same person the member of our branch had talked to us about (their friend that passed away). So we told her the sad news and then were able to talk about the plan of salvation and left her with a pamphlet and a return appointment in a week. Friday this past week we went back and had another talk with her.  We talked about religion and different things for a while, but there was this wall she has thrown up against religion. We continued to talk and she expressed how she had been praying that day a week ago asking God to give her a sign if he was there and which church was right if any.  She said that 20 min later we knocked on her door, and that we knew about her friend and she said that she couldn't deny God was trying to tell her something, but that she just wasnt sure if she could accept it or how she could know.  (she also said she prayed for a black and white answer and then we showed up in black pants and white shirts she thought that was funny haha). Anyways we pulled out a Book of Mormon and taught her about it and said that this was they way to know. She said to give her some time and she would read it cover to cover. I know she will get her answer. 

We were able to meet a lot of different people this week and just have good conversations. We are meeting up with most of them again this week and will be able to teach them more. Port Macquarie is really starting to get rolling! I feel like I'm gonna get transfered on the 14 of December though:( 

I'm loving my mission. I feel like this year has been my whole life. It's almost like I can't remember not being a missionary haha. I feel happy each day to be out serving God and everyone around me. We have 2 baptisms coming up in the next 2 weeks so that will be awesome. But I have found a love for doing all of God's work.  Not just baptizing, but working with less active members. To me it's just as important and worthwhile to bring those who have fallen away from the rod back to it. 

I love you all heaps!

Elder White

"Seeing is not believing. It wasnt for Laman and Lemuel....." Week 52

G'day mates!

This has been a good week! Wednesday through Saturday we were in New Castle for a Zone Conference though, so not too much to report on! But we have a baptism on Dec 5th so that will be awesome! 

We had 5 investigators at church last week which was great. You feel so happy when you see the people you are teaching walk up to church. The mission is going great! This week we were really just going through the branch list trying to find people.  So far we have tried to see 28 families and so far 26 of them have moved somewhere and 2 of them didnt answer the door so thats not too good haha.

We knocked on one of them though and this Korean lady opened and she was holding her daughter and we started talking about families and I told her there was 11 kids in my family and she was like ooohhhhh ohhhh ohhhhh too much! I love my family haha. People think my parents are crazy though! Big families rock though! 

Our investigators are doing good! We are working so hard to find people to teach but not seeing too much success right now. It's all good though.   Elder Quienton L. Cook said that the success is in the invitation so we know the Lord is pleased with our work!

I have been going through the scriptures a lot on my mission and I love them so much. There is so much in them that is just so wonderful and I cant believe I didn't read them as much before. I look forward to the times I can read from the scriptures now. They are so precious to me. I know this church is true. And that our prophet speaks for God. And God will never lead us astray. He is all powerful and all knowing and this is His church with His Son Jesus Christ as the chief corner stone of it. 

I made a batch of cinnamon rolls and took them down to zone conference and gave one to President and Sister Checketts and everyone in my district, and then I opened it up to everyone in the zone, and they were devoured in seconds haha. Everyone was so amazed that I cooked them! They say I have to make more next time haha. Those things are good. 

I love feeling the Spirit in my life. As a missionary I am blessed to be doing things all day that bring the Spirit into my life. It's such a comfort to receive witnesses from the Spirit. Because that's where true knowledge and testimony come from. Seeing is not believing. It wasnt for Laman and Lemuel, it wasnt for the Nephites time and time again. It wasn't even for Alma the younger who did see an angel. He said so himself in Alma 5:46 i think. Where he said "and how do ye suppose I know of their surety?" and then he says "I have fasted and prayed many days to know the truth and the Spirit has manifested the truth of it unto me". He didn't say "I saw an angel and it shook the earth".  He says he prayed and received a spiritual witness that it was true. We can all have that. Like alma said in Alma 32:26, we just need to have the desire to know and then plant the seed, to exercise a particle of faith until we can make room in our hearts for more truth. 

I love you all! Have a smash week,

Elder White

"The spirit was so strong in the room as Elder Parkinson and I bore our testimonies. I love being a missionary".....week 51

It's crazy to think that a year ago today I was 10 days away from reporting to the MTC! It has all gone by so fast, It seems like just yesterday I was at home holding my new born twin brothers and watching Frozen with Bronwyn. I have seen a lot of change over this year though, I have seen a lot of hardship and trials in other's lives and in my own. But one thing I didnt expect to happen was the change of heart. In alma 32:28 at the end of the verse it talks about the word or Jesus Christ becoming delicious to us and enlarging our soul. The gospel has really become delicious to me, I love it. I love searching the scriptures and listening to conference talks all day as we drive and its just all so amazing to me. 

So this week was a fast one, they all just seem to go by so quickly! But some weird things that happened this week is we went on Thursday up to a members property in the mountains to build some fences. He lives way out in the bush and it was raining on us the whole time but we didnt really care. But the reason I'm telling this is because Saturday morning I woke up and my lower back had been feeling weird for a while so I was rubbing it and i felt something so I looked in the mirrior and I had a massive tick!  It was a paralysis tick according to the people here. But being a boy scout I thought that I could handle it no problem, so I grabbed a lighter and tried to burn it. And all that did was make it crawl deeper inside of me and I burned myself haha. Then we tried pouring some listerine mouth wash on it and that just burned and then I tried to pull it out like a dummy and squeezed it and pulled and I just got a bit of its body and the rest was left in me where i couldnt get it. Everyone said I was gonna be crazy sick and all that if i didnt get the head out but I didnt beleive them and was stubborn and refused to go to the hospital to have them get the head out. But im feeling totally fine so I guess im immune haha.  But then the crazy thing is that night I found a giant leech on my leg just sucking away! It was massive! So I yanked it off quickly- which I guess is another no no- cause I didnt stop bleeding and ended up just putting a bandaid on it and going to bed and it soaked through it! Everything just wants my blood I guess haha.

So this week we had a cool experience! We called around when we found the tick and one of investigators said -come over we will give you some stuff for it- so we drove over and they were having a house inspection because they were renting and the couple that was doing it started asking us some questions.  So we all sat at the table and started talking and then some of the investigators friends showed up and joined the conversation. It was kinda funny.  We had 2 jehovas witnesses there, 2 born again christians, 1 catholic, then us and then our investigator family who are looking for a church! And we were leading a discussion with all of them. It was really cool, everyone was really open and respectful to everyone else, and we just had such a great conversation. Eventually one of them asked us how we could leave everything for 2 years, they asked basically what our conversion story was, why did we beleive. I told them my testimony was one that grew over time. But I shared with them the experience of my mum and the car accident she had. And how through faith fasting and the power of the preisthood she was able to heal and my little brother Colton was protected. The spirit was so strong in the room as Elder Parkinson and I bore our testimonies. I love being a missionary.

It was a good week overall, we gotta see heaps of people and help them out. The weather has been nice and rainy or cloudy so that's good.  I'm dreading the heat of summer that's comming in. I'm gonna sweat soooo bad. But it will all be right. 

Love you all heaps!

Elder White

"...it is such a spiritual pick me up though, i LOVE it."......Week 50

G'day Everyone!

So this week was a slow and steady week! I am loving my mission so much. Its starting to really warm up down here as we head into summer though, so thats gonna be rough! Luckily though I am allowed to drive still, so we are back on the road! 

Lets see...... On monday we went out at 6 to start working and it started dumping rain and lightning and wind so we walked back to the flat haha. We still were not cleared to drive yet so we got trapped inside for the night. So we did some planning and had a movie night and watched Joseph Smith prophet of the restoration!

On tuesday we walked to heaps of less active members homes and tried to find some new investigators by knocking doors and talking to people on the street but it was a slow day. No one really even opened their door! So not too much to report on there! We did meet this one less active man and had a good conversation with him. We commited him to come to church and he came! So that was awesome. 

Wednsday we met with this sweet less active dude from Hungary, his accent is so cool haha. We helped resolve some of his concerns and had an awesome chat with him. We are gonna start seeing him weekly and hopefully get him back to church! Then that night we had dinner at Paul and Mels and man i love that family soooooooo much! i want them to be baptized more than anything! We see them like 2 times a week so that will be good. They are slowly but surely comming along! 

Thursday we got cleared to drive so we were back on the road! We went down to Comboyne and saw some people there and we went to Wachope and then to this member that lives on a couple hundred acres out in the bush and had dinner there. It was a good day. We worked with a part member family where only the husband is a member and I was playing with the kids while we were there .  We had a good discussion with the family and all that and they came to church for the first time in forever! It was great.

Friday was a good day too. We met with this lady who was intrerested in our church and had a great restoration discussion. She loved it all and she is super keen to learn. She texted us yesterday and said she had started reading the book of mormon and that it was the most beautiful book she has ever read. She was asking us for more chapters to read and said she was also gonna start from the beginning! Over the course of my mission so far the power of the book of mormon has been confirmed to me again and again. i know that it is true. The power and influence for good it has on people's lives is undeniable. It is such an incredible book of scripture.

Saturday we were all over the place but we had a good day! We helped a member put together their bed because they are ancient... i dont know why they bought a new bed but they did so we helped haha. Then we went up to Kempsey and saw some people up there, did more service lifting things and what not, and then we went trick or treating haha- we dressed up as missionaries and knocked on people's doors! 

Sunday was a great day! Fasting takes on a new meaning though when you have 5 hours of tracting in the hot sun before dinner time haha. it is such a spiritual pick me up though, i LOVE it. 

Well love you all heaps!

Elder White

"they can be easily fixed through Jesus Christ"....Week 49

G'day everyone!

So this week has been a litttle hectic...... we kinda got in a car accident..... No one was hurt though! but ya- long story short we are on bikes and walking now. And Port Macqurie is potentially the most hilly area in the world! It's just all up hill both ways, I swear! haha! But it' whipping us into shape real quick. 

This week was more so just one of those normal weeks.  We couldn't get out to see a lot of our investigators, so that was a bummer.  All in all though we did a lot of door knocking haha.  Basically for all day, everyday, we were knocking doors or visiting less actives that lived close to us. 

So an update on Paul and Mel and Georgia.  They are the family I wrote about 2 weeks ago that have been feeding missionaries for a long time and Elder Parkinson and I started teaching them. They are doing great.  They are honestly so nice to us. We taught them the plan of salvation this week and it went great. We really focused on the atonement and resurrection and on eternal families! It really touched them.  They have a lot of barriers i think that they have put up, but I think we are slowly breaking them down one at a time. We have found their deep concerns and know that they can be easily fixed through Jesus Christ. 

We have knocked heaps of doors this week and we did see a little success.  We have a few return appointments next week. There is this sweet little family whose door we knocked on and talked to for a while. Her last name is White too so thats pretty sweet haha. She has 5 little girls and they are so cute, not as awesome as bronwyn and brooklyn though! 

Training is going great and I'm getting into the swing of things with being district leader. I will probably stay in Port through Christmas and all the members are fighting over who gets to have us over for christmas dinner haha. We might use it to our advantage... like say whoever has the most non members there is the one we will go to or something haha. 

Well, have a smash week everyone! 

Love you all heaps!

"It is awesome to see how all scriptures link together so perfectly"...Week 48

G'day mates, 

There isnt too much to report on this week! We just basically traveled around the world haha. We were only in our area for monday and tuesday this week but it was all good. We got to go around to the elders in our district and trade companions for the day and work in their areas! We were meeting with this one man and we teach him by drawing on a whiteboard. It was pretty fun actually. After the lesson he said my drawing skills were a lot better (than the missionary I was with for that day)  and he would miss me haha. 

Our area is going good.  We will see some baptisms here soon. I love being out on a mission. I think the reason people say it is the best 2 years of their life is because the only thing we need to worry about is other people. And when we are serving other people that's really what brings happiness. 

Today is 11 months since I left Arizona. It has gone by so fast, i really dont want it to end! I still have a long time though, so no worries there. 

I love you all and i know this is the true church. I know God lives and cares about us. This week i have been studying about faith. And it was cool to see how the parable of the sower, or the 4 soils, The parable of the seed by alma, And the story of the tree of life are all the same story. Jesus teaches us about how to get our soil ready. Alma teaches how to plant a seed and take care of it. and Lehi teaches us what the end result is and the joy that can come from it. It is awesome to see how all scriptures link together so perfectly. 

LOve you all heaps! 

Elder White

Long car rides kill him, ha ha!

Trade offs with Elder Tavalea during our lunch break 

Random dog thing

"I love bringing God's children closer to Him ..." Week 47

So this has been an amazing week! We have seen heaps of miracles and have been giving it our all! I think Elder Parkinson is ready for a break today though haha.  He is in bed and snoring by 9:20ish as soon as we finish planning! He is awesome though. He will be a great missionary even though he is stuck with me haha. 

So one thing that has been hard and will be hard this month is our kilometers have been cut down..... we only have 2500 now. And we have to drive up to grafton which is like 600 round trip and we have to go to coffs 2 or 3 times which is a 400 round trip and we gotta go down to taree like 2 or 3 times and it is a 200 round trip! So we arent left with much to drive in our area! but we are making it work! Come what may and love it. 

But an update on  the aboriginl kids! They are awesome!  I love them so much. We go over there at least 2 times a week and teach them a little at a time. This week we talked about Jesus Christ and repentance. We also had them start reading the Book of Mormon. They are loving learning about God. I made up this game where they jump of the trampoline and i catch them and throw them back on and it is all they want to do after the lesson now haha. Needless to say I get a good workout by the end of it. Something cool is that they live by a horse racing track and so everyones backyard is connected into one big one and the kids in the neighborhood have started coming over when we are there and we play with them and teach them about Jesus Christ! I love them all so much. We were sitting on the tramp talking and one of them asked if I was ever gonna go away and I said I would have to eventually and they all said they wouldnt let me go and that I could come stay with them haha.  I will have to run that one by my mission president first I think! 

We found heaps of new investigators this week! We just have gone around and knocked every door and contacted people from the past and just everything we could do. The Lord blessed us with success! I remember we were looking for one former investigator and we knocked on her door and it was some other person. So we were like oh ok bad address and tried talking to the man but he wasnt interested. So we were walking back towards our car and we saw a rabbit so of course we had to stop and look at it. And elder parkinson wanted to take a picture of it so while he was doing that I was looking around and I saw this lady in her yard with her daughter. I pointed her out to elder parkinson and he felt like we should go talk to her too. So we went over and said hi and it turned out that she was the one we had been looking for! The missionarys had written her address wrong before. She said she had been wanting to see the missionarys again but hadn't been able to contact us. We are going back tomorrow to teach her! 

We have an investigator who is 12 who lives way out in Comboyne, which is like over an hour drive away up in the mountains, that we hadnt been able to see in a long time. And we couldnt go see him because our kilometers got cut and it was too far. But a member was able to drive us out and we had an awesome lesson with him. We taught him the restoration and he loved it. He has been reading the Book of Mormon heaps and he said that the reason he loved it so much is because he didnt really know about Jesus Christ before but now he knows him super good. He wants to be baptized and accepted the invitation to be baptized on the 31 of this month! and we are doing it in the river! its gonna be rad. 

Another cool experience we had was with another investigator family. They have been feeding missionaries for years and love us, but they havent taken the lessons in ages and have been kinda against hearing them. They aren't completely sure about if they believe or not. So one night me and elder parkinson went over there and we were talking and eating dinner and I said "Hey, elder parkinson is new and I am supposed to help him learn how to teach the lessons.  Could we practice by teaching you?" And they were totally open to it. I felt kinda like ammon when he was trying to teaching king lamoni and said "and thus he was caught with guile"  It's righteous guile though haha. So we went back a few days later and taught them the restoration and the Spirit was so strong. It is a family and they have 2 kids-a daughter who is 12 and a little boy who is 3. I love that kid haha he is crack up! But we began teaching them and what we taught was a lot different than what we had planned. I guess that is how the Spirit works though. We knew deep down there were some hidden concerns and the Spirit was able to whisper to us what they were. We used scriptures, shared personal experiences, and bore our testimony. Every question they had, the answer was impressed onto at least one of our minds and we were lead on how to answer it. By the end we were all crying. Well at least I was haha. But the Spirit was just so strong. They couldnt deny it. The knew it was true. At the end I felt prompted to ask the mother to say the prayer even though I knew she had said she would never pray to God. She looked at me and said she would. She said the most sweet prayer. She prayed for the first time in public, and for the second time in her life. She prayed for her family and that she could know the truth of what we shared. We left them with some Books of Mormon and commited them to read alma chapter 32. I promised them they would receive an answer if they would read and pray. I know they will.

Yesterday we went over to a recent converts home whose husband is investigating right now. We we hadn't planned to go there but felt we needed to stop by. So we pulled over and walked up the stairs to their home and when we got to the top we saw them both on their porch and the wife was crying. We started talking to her and found that she has suffered from depression her whole life. She had physical pain from a injury years ago and just has had endless depression. We sat down with her and I pulled out the scriptures and we read scripture after scripture. The ones to turn to just kept popping into my mind. After, we felt impressed to ask her if she wanted a blessing. She said she did. So we anointed her head and I gave the blessing. I think i have said this before but that is one of my favorite things to do. To feel God's will and love for each person I am able to lay my hands upon to give a blessing. As I gave the blessing she began to cry. Afterwards as we continued to talk I cried with her. I just have so much love for these people. I know God loves them and he wants them back.

I love my mission. It is the best experience I have ever had. I love bringing God's children closer to Him and showing them the path to the iron rod. I love the people we serve. They are amazing. I know this work is true. 

I love you all!

Elder White

"I'm starting to get a rep in the mission...." Week 46

Hellloooo everyone!


So this week was a great week, not too much happened though. We were out of kilometers to drive for the beginning of the week so we did a lot of walking and door knocking. Not much success there, but we couldnt do anything else haha. But on Thursday we got new kilometers and we had to drive up to Coffs Harbour so I could interview a family for baptism! The sisters are teaching them. I was a little nervous because it was my first time but it all went good and they were all ready. it was a family from Africa and they were so nice. They were baptized on Saturday! 

So as far as missionary work this week not too much has happened.  We are working hard though. The branch president pulled me aside on Sunday and said that we were really starting to gain the trust of the members. That was nice to hear because we have been working hard to repair past damages that have happened. But the members are really starting to see us work hard and they will start giving us referrals soon I hope! We have some really solid apointments set up for this week so we should see it start to pick back up!

Training is going good and district leader is going right too. I'm loving my mission. So I'm starting to get a rep in the mission of being a great cook haha. I only make a couple things but hey, ill take the street cred haha.

Love you all! have a smash week!

We saw a Koala

That's right.  I fed a kangaroo

These are all wild kangaroos.  This one was getting angry because I wouldnt give him the bread and he tried to kick me! i was quick enough to get out of the way though haha
​

"It has changed me more than I could have imagined"....Week 45

So we had an interesting week! On Thursday we had a trainers meeting were we were kinda taught what to do and expect- for like 30 min haha. So we were all heaps prepared;) But then we went into the main room and found out who our companions are! and I am with the mighty Elder Parkinson from Texas! He is a great elder! He is ready to smash the work. I got a good son. 

So being district leader has been cool too. There are 10 missionaries in my district and it's awesome because up in Coffs Harbour zone you never get to see or talk to other missionaries, but as district leader I go on trade offs and call them a lot so I'm liking it! 

We didn't get back to our area until Thursday night and we had the elders in my district come and stay with us so we would all be closer for zone conference or something. I was gonna cook some enchiladas but when I got the meat out it was going bad because we had been away for a week. So I called a member and they brouight us a mean feed of chicken and rolls haha. It pays off to be on good terms with the members. After dinner i busted out the tim tams and heated up some milk for a tim tam slam but only me and the aussies were smashing them.  My companion and Elder Blake said they didn't like warm milk. They will cave in eventually, it only takes one haha. But we drove up to Coffs Harbour early that morning to get there by 8:30. It's like a 2 hour drive. It was a great meeting. We had President Checketts up there and it was just really good. I learned some new ways to do the work better and I'm excited to try them out. A big focus was on sacrament meeting and getting our investigators there. 

So really we only had Saturday and Sunday this week to go do some missionary work. We have already had some  miracles!

We went out tracting/ finding former investigators and I saw one name and felt prompted we needed to try to see them. So we went to the address and knocked and they weren't home so we started walking back down the street.  I felt prompted to knock on one of the doors so we stopped and knocked on it and a lady answered and we started talking to her. She said that she had talked to people like us before but had stopped because of some family issues. But she said she was totally down to learn again. So we asked what her name was and it was the lady we had been looking for! She had moved a couple doors down! We are going back to teach her tomorrow. She has 5 little kids and seems super keen! I'll let you know how it goes!

Another one is we went to the aboriginal family we teach and like I said before, these kids are crazy, like they have unlimited energy. I think the are like Australia's form of red heads haha. But we taught them about Joseph Smith and prayer and they all took a turn praying for the first time in their life. It was a very spiritual experience for me and them. They were taken from their father when they were younger and now we have taught them that God is their Father in Heaven and He hears their prayers. As they prayed they just talked to God.  They talked about their troubles and things they needed help with (like getting better at footy haha) but it was awesome. And then we asked them if they wanted to come to church and they yelled YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So I went out and talked to the uncle and he said it was all good but that he was just gonna drop them off. I said that was fine and it was all set! When we got back i was thinking about it and getting a little worried because I knew they were wild and I was worried about them sitting through sacrament meeting. So that night I prayed for a long time asking God to help them to be reverent. So Sunday morning came around and we did all the normal prep stuff, like preparing the sacrament and all that. The kids showed up and were dropped off and they started running around and being wild. But then it was time to come in for sacrament meeting and they came in and sat with me and were completley reverent. The whole time they were listening and awesome. Me and my companion were asked to speak last minute because the speakers didn't show up.  It was a great meeting though. God heard my prayer. Also the boys came up to me and said they had said their prayers that night and morning! 

We went out finding on Sunday afternoon and I was gonna do the old trainer routine with tracting, but we didn't get any hard doors haha.  Every door we knocked on we were able to talk to them and get inside! So the Lord had a different way to learn planned I guess! 

All is well though and I'm doing good! I'm loving my mission. It has changed me more than I could have imagined. The power and authority of a worthy missionary is real. We get to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. We are to do what He would do if He was there ministering and serving these people. I love that we get to promise blessings to people in the name of Jesus Christ. It never fails. We were meeting with an investigator one day while I was still in the city. She told us she couldn't come to church because she worked.  She had tried everything but couldn't get it changed. We were prompted by the Spirit to tell her that if she would quit her job she would find a new one within a week where she would not work Sundays. She showed faith and quit her job. That day she was offered a job at the same company where she didn't work on Sundays. I know this is a true work.

I love you all! 

This is our church, it's the best

​the birds have found me from the city haha

"America represent!"......Week 44

So this has been a crazy week kinda, since i am so far away from everyone in Coffs for transfers .  We had to drive down on Wednesday to Newcastle so we were closer to everyone. So this week has been mostly spent in Newcastle area and all that.

So for transfers I got some news! I have been called to train a new missionary so I will go pick him up on Thursday and take him back to Port. And also i have been called as a district leader. So kinda a lot at once but it will be interesting to see how it goes haha. I know the Lord will help me. 

So not too much to report on to be honest, just crazy old people down in new castle, and walking around. But this next week should be interesting I reckon. 

A member took us go carting on Monday for p-day, it was pretty sweet! We were going so fast my ribs bruised from the g force in the turns. I loved it though. And I smashed all those Australian drivers, America represent!

I did some more cooking this week.  I made cinnamon rolls and some beef enchiladas.... easy to say I'm a legend in the missioon now after they tried the cinnamion rolls haha. 

Our branch is doing good. We are still working with them but good. We usually conduct the meetings.  I play piano, we bless the sacrament, sometimes bless and pass. We teach the gospel doctrine and principles class and I love it. Its amazing up there. Such a beautiful place and beautiful people. I'm excited to see how everything will turn out! I love you all!

I'll probably have some cool pics in the comming weeks because I'm gonna be traveling all over now! I'll keep you all posted. 

Love you heaps! 

Elder White

"I know this church is true and that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know it. "....Week 43

So this was a slower week but it was still good!

We saw that aboriginal family on tuesday and taught the kids the restoration. And man i was powerless against them all haha. I thought my family was wild but these kids are crazy! i love them though, they are so funny. We finally got them to sit down though by agreeing to do the lesson out on the trampoline. So we started off and asked them if they knew who God was and one was like- ya he is the man that sits on top of the building and has binoculars.  And another was like- noooo he flys in the sky and makes people fall asleep.  And the youngest one thought he was santa clause So we had a long way to go haha. But we started telling them about God and how he is their dad in heaven, and they really liked that cause they don't live with their parents. So they were really excited that they had a dad to talk to in heaven. They are really keen to learn and take it in pretty well, we've just gotta take it slow with them.

We went to see bills son again this week but he was super sick so we couldnt meet with him. He is still doing good though and reading the book of mormon. 

We did a lot of service for the members this week- cause most of them are pretty old. 

On Sunday night we got a call from a member out in Kempsey Way and they said that they were in the hospital and needed a blessing so we drove down there and gave her a blessing. I think that is one of my fovorite parts of being a missionary. Especially out in a branch. You get to give many blessings and service and just so many things. I love it!

We had a cool experience with an athiest this week. We knocked his door and he said ohh.. you guys. come in. And we sat down and he said "Look I'm athiest and have been for years and I have had missionarys here before and none of them could tell me how they knew that God lives.  I remembered reading something by Elder Packer when he was met with an atheist and could only say he knew by the Spirit that it was true and the atheist said  "but how do you know?" and he was helpless to explain. Then he got an idea and that's what i used. So I said to the atheist "Do you know what salt taste like?" and he was like ya, And I said "so you could tell the difference between salt and sugar? and he was like ya. And so i said "ok then, pretend i have never tasted anything with salt, could you tell me what it tastes like?"  and he said he could but then when he tried he couldn't put into words. I said "I thought you knew what it tastes like!" and he just couldn't explain it in words and so I said "Just like you know what salt tastes like, I  know just as well that God does live". And we went on to teach him and he listened the whole time and thanked us as we left. 

Sometimes its hard to use worldly words to describe spiritual things, but good old Elder Packer saved me there! 

So we got a call last night from our branch president and he wont be at church and he said neither of his counslers will be and the branch clerk is sick. So im conducting the sacrament meeting and the elders quorum president will be presiding haha. 

We lost some weight this week too hahaha.  We ran out of funds like 5 days ago and have been living on rice. We get more funds on wednesday though and one of the members dropped off some food for us last night so we should be all good. 

Even though there are fast and slow weeks I love bieng out on a mission. There is honestly nowhere i would rather be. I love spending every hour helping other people come to know Jesus Christ more. Its so hard and discouraging sometimes and other times it feels so easy and everything just works out. But when the hard times come you can feel the angels there helping.

I know this church is true and that Joseph Smith really did see Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. I know it. 

I love you all!

Elder White

 

"Jesus is my best friend man! ".....week 42

So this was a awesome week! we worked hard and were able to do so much. We found 6 new investigators this week and all of them seem like they will be baptized. I have felt the Spirit so much this week. Our mission president came out with a new key indicator, which is the different things we report on at the end of the week, like lessons taught and things like that. But the new key indicator was proselyting hours.  He said he expected each companionship to be out working 55-60 hours a week. So from 10am till 9:30pm everyday with an hour for lunch and dinner. So we decided that we would meet that goal even though we had to drive for hours each day and driving doesnt count for that. But we did it and smashed the work.

Our first new investigator is actually the son of a recent convert. He is about 40 and is a really awesome man. He still lives with his dad. We went over there on thursday and went in and chatted for a while. We asked the normal questions to see where he was at and then we led into the restoration lesson. I just love that lesson so much! It's so powerful. I love the first vision, because we lead up to it by teaching about the apostasy and how everything was taken from the earth. And then we get to tell them that its back- that a young man named Joseph Smith prayed with faith and that the heavens were opened.  That a pillar of light descended down from the sky and Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and called him as a prophet and that the true church is back on the earth again. We taught him the first vision bit and then i bore testimony of it and he was just like, wow its amazing you guys can know and have such faith in this. We went on with the lesson and he accepted everything.  He was feeling the Spirit so strongly and he knew it. We invited him to follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone who holds the authority and power of God. He said that he would be baptized! then at the end we were committing him to pray that night to ask God if it was true and i felt prompted to promise him a direct answer from God. So i said to him I promise you in the name of Jesus Christ that you will receive a answer to your prayer tonight. He looked at me and began to cry and just said thank you. the Spirit was so strong and my companion was able to testify of Jesus Christ again and promise him this was true. After the lesson he opened up to us and began telling us things he had been dealing with for a while. he has come a long way and is such a great man.

On friday we were out finding and we went to this one house of an aboriginal family. they let us in and man it reminded me of home haha. So there are 5 kids but they actually live with there uncle cause of some legal things but they are 6 8 10 12 and 14, the oldest is a girl and the rest are boys and man the are crazy! they wrestle and punch and refuse to cry haha the all tried to take me on but i still got my moves haha. But we talked to the uncle about what we do and he said he isnt really interested in learning but if the kids wanted to it was up to them. They all wanna learn and so we go over there every tuesday night now. we will start with a lesson and then go play footy or soccer with them they are so fun haha.

And then we went out one night to a resturant for dinner and there was a pool table there and my companion wanted to play so we put a 2 dollar coin in and started playing. while we were playing this guy came up and he was all covered in tattoos and he said "pardon my ignorance but what does your nametag say?" and so we showed him and he was like ohhhhhhh Jesus is my best friend man! and we began talking and he is a sailor but is on shore leave for 4 weeks and he kinda told us his back story and said he would be interested in us comming around teach him more about what we do and about our church! we should play pool more often haha.

All around its been a great week though sunday was crazy like always. Like man- all the branches up here are in a district and the district leaders are really worried about our branch.  There are only 2 or 3 melchezidek preisthood holders left. and one of them just decided to take some time off from church so things arent looking to good. But there really are some amazing people in the branch. we are just trying to help them all out.

Well, love you all!

           Elder White

this This is our chuch property.  There are always kangaroos. We meet in like an old mexican style looking house

he The country is so pretty.  It's up on this massive mountain and its just rolling hills of farmland

we went bowling on p day with this less active family

**Conner just admitted to me that he dropped his camera a few weeks into his mission and shattered his screen, so he really can never see what he's taking pictures of!  I think I know what to send him for Christmas:)

"This is the true church. It's the same everywhere because Jesus Christ is at the head of it."...week 41

Hey everyone! 

This week has been awesome it was also a weird week though cause we were out of our area for a while. But I had a great time. It's been a little hard for me not being in the city anymore where everything happens so fast and there is so much work to do. Out here it's a lot slower, I thought I would like it but I miss the work. We still work hard out here but we don't see as much success haha. 

So we had to leave Monday for Coffs Harbour to go up to my companions great grandmas funeral. We left Monday and stayed there over night. The funeral was Tuesday morning and it was nice. My companions family took us out to dinner and bought me new shoes! We got back late Tuesday. I thought it might make me homesick but it really just reminded me how important it is to be out here doing the Lords work.  He didn't get homesick either though so that was good.

On Wednesday morning we went out and just did the normal stuff and then my companion and I realised we had some appointments we needed to get to in Kempsey so we went back to our flat and realised we had no ks left to drive for the month and so we both slowly looked up at the bikes in the back of the garage. And looked at the each other and nodded our heads haha. So we biked from port to Kempsey and it normally is only like 55 kilometres if you take the highway but the highway is all under construction so bikers aren't allowed! So we had to take the old Maria river road which is like 80 kilometres to Kempsey and it is all dirt and pot holes and mountains. We smashed it though.  We did it in like 5 hours so we wouldn't be late. Our legs literally bruised we went so hard haha. We were fine by morning.,........,. Kinda when we had to bike back home. Our bums are so sore. It was a good experience though! I think we set a record for missionaries of the farthest bike in one day! 

So Thursday morning we got picked up by some elders from down past Taree as they were driving up for our zone training meeting. So that was all Thursday and Friday. They were good meetings though. It was nice to see the other missionaries. We all slept over at the zone leaders place so there were 14 missionary's packed into one small room hahah. It was fun though. I started this like volleyball dodgeball type thing and we did it for like an hour haha. 

On Saturday we went finding in the missions which is like our government housing. Here is where most of the aboriginal people live. We played with the kids and stuff and they all started following us around.We would knock on the door and the little aboriginal kids would say, well aren't you gonna let em in? And so we actually got a lot of return appointment thanks to them! It was a fun time. 

Sunday was hilarious! There is a lot of drama going on and it all came out on Sunday we were just sitting there like what the........ But we stayed out of it and just left cause it was getting way out of control. But ya they are all awesome people. I love all of them.

It's been a great week. I love you all and hope you have a great week. This is the true church. It's the same everywhere because Jesus Christ is at the head of it. Being a missionary is the best thing in the world. You don't need a name tag though. Reach out to your friends and share with them what you have. We don't ever need to fear because God has promised to always be with us.

Elder White