"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:)