G'day!
Well this has been and amazing week :) We had
transfers on Tuesday. We picked up my new companion Sister Kim from
the train station at 2pm. She rode up with the new District Leader for
Kalgoorlie, Elder Brown. Let me tell you a little bit about these
missionaries. Sister Kim was born in South Korea. She moved to
Adelaide when she was 12 years old. She has one brother and 2 sisters.
She is the oldest in her family. Her dad converted to the gospel when
he was 10 with his parents and siblings. Her dad served a mission in
Korea and her grandfather is the Patriarch in her home stake in Korea.
Her mum joined the church when she was 26. Sister Kim was sealed to
her family when she was ten. She has been out on her mission for 10
months. We would have both got to Perth the same intake if I didn't
have to visa wait. Sister Kim and I were trained in the same district.
She was trained by Sister Manu in Mindarie when I was trained by Sister
Peivi in Clarkson. It was a mini flashback the first day we were
together. It's been amazing to teach with her this week and see how
much we have both grown in the last several months.
Elder Brown is from Taylorsville, Utah! He is a convert of about
10 years. He has been serving for about 17 months. He is a magician.
We call him the magicianary :) He loves card tricks and is really good
at them. We may just be easily entertained but I think he is pretty
good. He has a lot of gospel knowledge. This scriptures are marked in
all kinds of different ways. I was flipping through them the other day
and I came across Isaiah 5:26-28. He had a tab on that scripture
labeled "Push bikes". I questioned him on it and this is how he
explained it like this, "These verses talks about missionary work. 'And
he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto
them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed
swiftly: 27 None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall
slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed,
nor the latchet of their shoes be broken: 28 Whose arrows are sharp, and
all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs shall be counted like flint,
and their wheels like a whirlwind:' Now
if I were Isaiah in those days how would I explain a push bike if I saw
it in a vision. Well most people rode horses so a horse whose hoofs
are like flint and wheels like a whirlwind. Sounds like Isaiah saw us
on our bikes if you ask me!" I laughed and had to agree with him. It's
going to be a great transfer out here in Kalgoorlie if you ask me!
Here a a few highlights from this week:
Our
investigator Ronney is going great! On Tuesday we went over and read 3
Nephi 11 with him. We didn't want to teach two big lessons back to
back. He mentioned that he had read the introduction and the
testimonies of Joseph Smith and the witnesses and that he found it all
very interesting. It was great reading straight through the scriptures
with him and just letting the Spirit take over. We took Sister Graff
with us to teach that lesson. It was such a fun blessing to have her
here. The babies were still in the hospital that day so we kidnapped
her and took her with us. I love the Lord's tender mercies that he has
given me this week. I feel incredibly blessed. It was great to have
her talk about home and be able to give her the opportunity to come
teach with us. We all felt unified and uplifted. Then on Thursday we
went and taught him again. We took Brother Timu, our ward mission
leader and his wife, Pia. We taught the Plan of Salvation. Ronney
again the whole time just kept saying things like, "I knew there was
more after this life." "Of course God loves us enough to do it that
way." and on and on. He is like a big sponge. He said that he bumped
into an old mate the other day and told the mate all about how he goes
to church now and is getting closer to God. It was awesome. We have a
FHE tonight at the Timu's with him. They invited him over after our
lesson. It's going to be great. He stayed for the whole block at
church yesterday too! He said he learned so much in the other classes.
I've never met someone as prepared to hear the gospel as he is.
Sister
Kim brought with her heaps of faith and miracles. I am soo grateful to
have her out here. The whole work just feels better than it has for
the last couple of weeks. Since we have been out the same amount of
time we feel evenly yoked in the work. It's refreshing to know that as
soon as I finish my thought in a lesson that she knows exactly where to
take over. The Spirit has been so strong in the few lessons we have
had. We also found 4 new investigators last week! That was a major
highlight. The people are here we just need to find them.
Sister
Tairua in the ward shared with us a cool family tradition that they
have in their home. Whenever they eat around the table together for
dinner they go around and share 3 good things about their day. Sister
Kim and I really liked that idea so before we fall asleep we share 3
good things about our day. It's been fun because even though we are
basically connected at the hip all day long we have had completely
different things every night. It's pretty cool to see that there are
sooo many good things that happen everyday. Every day might not be good
but there is definitely something good in every day.
Here are a couple tender mercies from church yesterday:
Back
to the Kaa family. The babies are home! They were blessed yesterday
in Sacrament Meeting. Jack gave them both amazing blessings. It was
awesome to see them walk in and Jack had a baby seat in both hands.
They are the cutest little family ever! I'm so glad I'm here at this
time to be a part of it in some small way.
Sister
Mitchell, a lady in our ward, was talking to me before Relief Society
started and she said, "You are from St. George? Do you know the
Wittwers? I think they own some furniture shop there. It's called the
Boulevard or something like that." My jaw just dropped. I said, "Yeah
we know the Wittwers! My dad worked for the Boulevard for over 17
years!" Apparently Sheldon was a missionary in New Zealand when Sister
Mitchell was investigating the church!
And
last but certainly not least, every Sunday as people come into church
all 4 of us missionaries stand by the front door and welcome everyone as
we wait for investigators to show up. Well yesterday I was standing
were I could see out the glass doors that are always propped open and
all the way to the street. I was shaking some peoples hand when I
looked out the door and made eye contact with Mike Hawkins! He just
stopped where he was and said, "What the heck are you doing here?!" I
just shook my head and freaked out a little and said, "I'm serving here
what the heck are you doing out in Kalgoorlie?!" His brother is in this
ward! Mike and his girlfriend were just out here visiting him and his
family. For those of you who don't remember who Mike is, Mike served
in the Washington YSA ward when I received my mission call. He is from
south of the river in Perth. I've never served in his ward but I've
seen him about 3 times now throughout my mission in the most random of
places. We snapped a quick photo after Sacrament before we went to
teach Gospel Principles and he left back to Perth.
I
love that even out here in Kalgoorlie there are people that make me
feel right at home. Sitting in Relief Society yesterday I really felt
at home. It's amazing how quickly you get to know people and connect
with them. The church is true no matter where you go. This is Christ's
church. I hope you are all growing in your testimonies and that you
feel God's love for you. Those are a few things that I've learned are
just as real as everything else in this world. Keep the faith!
Much love!
Sister Shayne :)
This is Sister Kim :)
This is from the wicked lightening storm we had the other night.
We
drank coconut milk straight from the coconut the other night at a
members house. It was a different experience that's for sure. It
wasn't half bad though.
Mike Hawkins!
These are our Elders. I love em. Elder Brown always wears a 3 piece
suit with a pocket watch. He's crack up that one. Elder Battye is
still here and as cool as ever.
Me and Sister Kim! A lot of our pictures will probably look like this. haha
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