Seeing and Staying in the promised land!‏

Hey!

We just got the transfer call.  Sister Tomaki and I will be staying in Golden Bay! The stories of this week will explain why I am so excited about this little fact.  We are finally out of our wilderness stage of this area and we are starting to see the promise land!  Our district is pretty much staying the same.  We are losing Elder Eti but the rest of us are staying.  We are gutted that he is moving but the new Elder coming in is pretty cool.   He came to WA to save money for his mission, flew back to NZ and put in his mission papers and got his call to Perth.  He lived with the Tipene family out in Kalgoorlie while he was here.  He got to Perth while I was serving in Kal so I've only met him like twice.  It will be a good transfer.

I just have to give a shout out to how awesome my little siblings are.  Soph, I can't believe you are old enough to date and drive.  Way to be on top of it all to get your license on your birthday.  That's so cool.  I can't wait to have you drive me around :)  Tell the boys to back off or else there will be one angry sister missionary in Australia.  Josh you are becoming a running machine.  I can't wait to see you run races with dad and at high school.  I look up to your determination.  Ben!  The pictures from your baseball season are amazing!  You are a great little pitcher!  I love hearing about how well your games went and how easy it is for you to make friends.  David, you are unstoppable.  Homerun after homerun during your games.  I bet the other teams were scared when you stepped up because they knew you were going to make your team win. I have the best little siblings in the world! 

Monday last week we went at chilled at the Robinson's.  There is a park by Areonny's house that has become our p-day place the last few weeks.  It's been great.

Tuesday night we met up with the Greentree family.  I don't remember what I've told you about them so I'll give a background.  Phil, the dad, was baptized many years ago by Brother Dean Timms who lives in our ward.  Phil and his family moved back up here from Esperence only about 5 months or so ago.  We've been trying to meet with them since I served with Sister Murray but every time they have had an excuse or reason why we couldn't share something with them.  Last Sunday we went and dropped by.  Phil and his partner (they aren't married yet) Tash had friends over that were giving them tattoos.  He was having a drink and he just said, "Sisters, I'm not going to hide who I am from you.  As you can see I need help.  When can you come back?"  We went and had dinner with them Tuesday night before he flew out to work on Wednesday.  During our studies Tuesday morning we felt really impressed to teach them the atonement.  We started our lesson with a prayer, taught simply, and testified powerfully.  Phil just broke down in tears.  He said that the last few weeks he had been trying to dodge us.  He expressed that every time he turned us away he just felt rotten inside.  We explained to his wife and kids that what Phil was feeling was the spirit.   You get the Spirit after you are baptized.  His son Kian said, "I want to be baptized."  My jaw just dropped.  We talked to all of them for a little bit and then committed all of them to pray about being baptized and see what answer they get.  The Spirit was so strong.  Tia is 15, Kian is 13 and Georgia is 10.  None of them had ever seen their dad cry like he did.  Even Tash who has been with him for 17ish years now hasn't ever seen that side of Phil.  It was an incredibly touching moment for everyone.  We also committed them to start saying their family prayers again.  We knelt with them right then and asked Phil to say the closing prayer for us.  There was no way anyone could deny the feeling that was in that room.  The next day we got a text from Tash saying that Phil had called President Lindsay and left him a message on his phone explaining the lesson we had and asking President to consider leaving Sister Tomaki and I in this area.  I was touched.  It's incredible to see the Lord work through you at the right time for these people.  It was nothing that Sister Tomaki or I did that could have created that atmosphere or feeling in that home.  I love knowing that no matter how far someone may stray from the straight and narrow path when it is their time to come back the Holy Ghost will let them know.  Every time without fail.  I'm just so incredibly humbled and grateful that I get to be a part of it all.  We are seeing them on Wednesday and I can't wait to talk to them and see how they have been prepared.  I LOVE THIS WORK! There really is no better thing we can do in this life then to bring those we love into the gospel.  If you have someone close to you that doesn't know the fullness of Heavenly Father's plan and love for them please let them know!  It might be scary but it is soooo worth it! 

We had a great lesson with our friend Paris this week.  He had his girlfriend over who he gave a Book of Mormon to.  She had been reading it but didn't understand what was going on.  We taught her the Restoration and it made a lot more sense to Paris hearing it the second time.  We brought up baptism and Paris asked how baptism worked exactly.  We taught him about it and helped him see what a blessing it is in our lives.  He looked at his girlfriend and said, "We should both be baptized.  Heck my whole family needs this!"  We told him that we agree.  We invited them to go see a baptism that was in Rockingham and they seemed really keen.  We got a call from him on Friday though saying that he and his girlfriend wouldn't be joining the "Mormon church."  I was totally surprised.  We asked why and asked what had happened to change their minds but he just said that they didn't feel like it was for them.  Someone must have said something to them.  I was sad but glad that he knows it's something he can do.  People can turn down our invitations but once they know it's what they need to do then there is no denying that.  They will come around some day.  For us that's just part of the work.  We dust ourselves off and start again. 

Those are the more spiritual parts of our week.  

On Tuesday during district meeting Elder Teuira sneakily wrote in my planner and in Sister Tomaki's.  Mine said, "Look at your companions 'to do' list.  Hers said, "Buy Elder Teuira a gift."  We laughed so hard at his creativity and decided that we would actually get him a gift just for kicks and giggles.

 

  Elder Teuira is the biggest Transformers fan.  We found that out last week and were kinds of surprised at what a Transformer nerd he is deep down.  We stopped at Target one day and bought him 2 construct a bots!  Bumblebee and Optimus Prime.  We put them in a gift bag and dropped it off at their flat.  Later that night we got this text message [see picture].  Needless to say he loves us :) 

I love this district of missionaries.  I love the Mandurah ward.  These have been the best months of my mission even though they have also been some of the hardest.  Our hard work, tears, and struggles are finally paying off!  We can't wait to see how these next couple of weeks play out.  Thank you for all of your love and prayers.  They help more than you know!  I love you all!

Much love, Sister Shayne 

Alma

2:29-31 I fist pumped the air and made like a cheering sound effect during personal study as I read this.  The righteous will always come out of top.

3:26 Happiness or misery?  Who will you listen too?

5:14-16 Can you imagine?  How are you doing?

5:27-28 Your 2nd coming could be tomorrow.  We never know when our time in mortality will come to an end.  We can't just procrastinate.

5:45-46 How does Alma know that this is all true?

5:60 Christ will call unto you.  He loves you.

6:6 Fast, Pray, Share the Gospel.  The key to happiness in this life. 

7:17 This is how I feel after a powerful lesson with less-active members.

Chapter 8 I frequently use this story when asking members to help us in this work.  We can't do it without you.

11:26-46  Let us testify like the recent convert Amulek.  When people ask us about our religion don't back away.  Share what you know to be true!

13:28-29 This is the best council we could listen too.

This picture is me trying to make the parts of the scriptures that people just skip over important.  This is Alma chapter 11 where the Nephites monetary system is set forth.  I was trying to see how much Zeezrom was willing to give Amulek to deny his testimony.

I have another story to share with you.  The senior couple in charge of our flats came around to do an inspection the other day and I could tell that Sister Sutherland had an American accent.  I asked her where she and her husband were from and she said, "We are from Lehi, Utah!"  My face lit up and I ran over to the kitchen to show her my apron from Grandma :)  She showed her husband and he got the biggest smile of his face.  He just said, "Well that's a perfect little touch from home isn't it?"  I was glad I could make their day. 

The last one is of our new fry pan.  I think we needed a new one :) 

Pre-transfer dinner at Grandma's house.  Sister Tomaki and Elder Wihongi being an egg.

Elder Teuira making dessert.  He made crapes and chocolate sauce all from scratch.  We'll keep him around for a while.

 Me and Tori :)

Me and Elder Maughan.  I didn't know he was making a face until I looked at the picture later haha!

Me and Elder Eti :) 

This is the best picture I could get of some kangaroos that we saw eating someone grass on the way home from Grandma's house last night. There was 2 but one was hiding up by the house and I couldn't get a picture of it.

Another week come and gone‏

Hey there everyone! 

I feel like I just emailed you!  This last week was all jumbled up and yet one of the best weeks in a long long time!  

 

Monday our p-day was cut short.  We didn't complain too much.  We emailed and then got on our way to proselyting again by 1pm. 

Tuesday we had an amazing lesson with Sister James and her daughter Mel.  We talked about temples and showed them tons of pictures from one of the special Ensign editions of the Temple.  The spirit was soo strong as we shared with them the blessings that could come from their family.  Sister James felt inspired to show us a song that she loves all about the temple.  We watched a little video that went along with the song and we were all in tears.  I love having lessons where the spirit hits you so strong that you can't deny that it is in the room.  When we went home Sister Tomaki and I just sat and talked about our testimonies of the temple and how blessed we are to be a part of this gospel.  Not only that but the added blessings and knowledge that comes from being able to go to the temple and help in the Lord's work for those that have passed on.  There is incredible power that comes from the temple. 

Wednesday we woke up and studied and then drove to pick up the Kwinana Sisters, Sister Brown and Sister Ama.  We knew our temple session for our zone of missionaries started at 2pm.  We had been told to be there at least 30 minutes early.  We still had family names that needed the initiatories done so we left super early to see if they would let us squeeze them in before the session started.  The temple matron Sister Meredith is amazing.  She looked at the time and said, "You have about 2 names each to do?  Well we have 45 minutes before our prayer meeting.  Let's grab some workers and get those names through so that you can take them through the session."  I can't adequately describe how much I needed this temple trip.  Usually missionaries only get to do a temple session.  We don't do anything else.  Being able to take a family member all the way through the ordinances of the temple was a sacred experience and blessing that I will cherish for a long time.  I was grateful for the opportunity to be reminded of the promises that I've made with Heavenly Father.  The promised blessings that come to those who are faithful to their promises is greater than anything you can think of.   I wouldn't trade those moments and experiences to have the Spirit testify to me for the world.  While we were sitting in the Celestial Room I walked over to Sister Tomaki and just gave her the biggest hug.  She had completed work for her grandmother, grandfather and both sets of great-grandparents on that side with the help of ward members and other missionaries.  I told her the same thing that mum told me when I went through for the first time.  I said, "Sister Tomaki, the feeling that you feel right now is exactly what it will feel like when you get to see those family members after this life.  They are soo grateful for the work that you just did."  She just smiled and cried.  It was wonderful.  Then I sat on the other side of the room and looked at all 26 or so missionaries that were in that room.  That is God's Army.  It's a beautiful sight to see Elders walking in the streets and knocking doors but it's something else when you see them in humble prayer in the house of the Lord.  Again these are things that I feel more than I can express but I hope you can catch a glimpse of heaven that I saw.  If you don't have a current temple recommend, get one.  No matter what it takes.  It is worth any sacrifice you may need to give to have that opportunity to enter in to the Lord's house and receive all that He has in store for you. 

 

I read a talk this week from Elder Holland called, Because of your Faith.  It was his October 2010 General Conference address.  I highly recommend it. 

I was touched this week by a comment about the American accent.  Usually I just get made fun of for having an American accent.  Since I've had to teach Sister Tomaki English any and all of the Aussie that I tried to pick up has gone away.  The other day however we visited with Sister Dreissen and she said something that really touched my heart.  We were talking about accents and I said how earlier in the week someone had said something negative about Americans (that happens quite a lot) and she said, "This may sound weird but the American accent is one that I crave to hear.  When we lived in South Africa most of the missionaries that came through our house were American Elders.  Now when I hear that accent I know that everything is going to be okay.  The missionaries are here which means that everything for right now is safe."  We've heard all kinds of stories and seen lots of pictures from this family about South Africa.  I was humbled to hear her say that.  I never really thought about how much peace just having a missionary in your home can bring.  It gave me a greater understanding of my calling and effect that I can have to members and nonmembers alike while being here.

Miracle of the week:

BROTHER MUTU CAME TO CHURCH!  Nobody knew why he decided to come but last week he told his family that he was thinking about coming with them to church and he came!  All day yesterday I was thinking about their family and how a simple things like having him come to church was a blessing in our lives.  I felt so good.  I could have given him a hug when I saw him but I refrained.  As I was thinking about the fact that him came to church while eating dinner I looked at Sister Tomaki and said, "I don't know why I'm so surprised that he came.  I did put his name in the temple this last week."  My faith was so strengthened by the power of the temple this week.  I wish I could just live in those moments forever.    

The last thing I wanted to share was a scripture that was shared in Sacrament meeting yesterday.  It applies to every part of life.  Look up D&C 35:13 and see how it applies to you.  No matter what we may feel weak in we can overcome that obstacle by staying close to the Savior and relying on the Holy Ghost.  I love how when you are striving to do the right thing Heavenly Father seems to reach out to you more.  By putting someone else in your path to just say hi, give you a hug, or share a scripture that you need to hear.  It's simply amazing.  I hope you are all doing well.  I love hearing about the swim meets and other cool things that you are all doing.  I love you all heaps! Thanks for your prayers and love.

Much love,
Sister Shayne

Mosiah

Chapter 15 Want to konw about Christ?  Read this.

17:9-10, 20  This is why he is my hero!

17:11-12  What kind of friends do you surround yourself with?  Do they help you follow the spirit or do they peer pressure you into making the wrong choice?

18:8-9 This is the baptismal covenant

19:17, 26-29  With King Noah being as wicked as he was and then for Limhi to be as righteous as he was even though he knew how bad his dad was I can't help but assume that he had a really righteous mother.  She probably tucked him in to bed at night saying things like, "Don't listen to dad.  Lets just read our scriptures and say our prayers." 

20:14-16 One misunderstanding brought forth a major battle.

24:11-16 Power of prayer

26:33 What do you do with your answers to your prayers?

27:25  This is proof that God is the same around the world.  See John 3:5

27:36-37 Instruments to publish peace!

28:3 Is that how we feel about the people around us?

Alma

 1:25 Trials will come.  We can't change that.  We just need to keep the commandments and be patient and all will be fine. 

We have officially hit winter.  The storms this week have been insane!  These are just some photos from our front yard.  I was postponing driving in the storm so I took some photos of what was going on.  We had a small swimming pool in our front yard.

 

The Week Flies By

Hey there!

It seems like every week seems to be going by faster and faster.  I'm really not okay with that.  This email will be just a lot of random thoughts that came about this week.

First, I miss central heating.  These little heaters in our flat don't cut it.  Once the sun goes down here it is absolutely freezing.  A member gave us a great heater a few days ago after a lesson that we had with them.  It was a major blessing.  It keeps us plenty warn while we sleep. 

Next, this week we got home at 9pm and I said a prayer to start our daily planning for the next day.  After I said amen Sister Tomaki got up and went into the other room.  I just thought she needed to use the bathroom or something but then she came back like 4 minutes later and put the kettle on.  I turned around and looked at her.  She was in her pajamas.  I said, "Hey we need to plan!"  She looked at me and just ran into the other room and changed back into her proselyting clothes.  She came back super embarrassed.  I just laughed and laughed.  You know it's been a long day when you think that the opening prayer is the closing prayer.   She looked at me and said, "Don't email mum again!"  Therefore I had to email you.  I don't think I ever emailed you our last awkward moment so I'm going to put that in here too.  A few weeks ago we experienced that awkward moment when your personal study opening prayer turns into a companionship study opening prayer.  I knelt down after church to start my personal study and Sister Tomaki kneels down and starts a vocal prayer to open a companionship study.  I just rolled with it for like 3 minutes after her prayer and then asked her if we were going to do personal study.  She got soooo embarrassed. I just laughed.  I couldn't help it.  It was hilarious! She's a good sport.  She just laughs and says that she's glad that she is getting all of her mess ups out of the way before she gets a new companion.  She was also reading a scripture to me this week and messed up the words.  It was 1 Timothy 4:12 and instead of saying "in charity" she said "in chastity."  Another good laugh.  :)

I finally got in to see the Chiropractor.  I saw him last Monday.  He did a whole bunch of funny tests and then he assessed my back.  He got about half way down my spine and then said, "What the hell?"  (That's not a swear word here).  I figured that wasn't a good sign.  He adjusted me and then told me to come back on Wednesday.  I went back on Wednesday and Alex Mutu adjusted me.  She and Brother Joyce work together.  Then Alex told me to come back today.  Today is a short p-day because we are going to the temple on Wednesday to do a temple session!  I'm excited.  It's been too long.  My body feels a lot better.  I'm grateful for physical strength and this week we will be given much spiritual strength as well. 

I love going to church.  Some weeks we have investigators come and sometimes we don't.  This week was a week where they didn't come.  We had a member of the Stake High Council speak as well as President Stanley the Stake President.  I just wanted to share a little bit from their talks.   I was spiritually fed and I hope someone else can benefit from their messages as well.  Brother Port said, " Prayers are usually answered in three ways.  #1 A yes, peace, comfort, etc. #2 A no or a stupor of thought.  #3 Nothing at all.  When it is the third situation heavenly Father trusts us to make the correct choice.  If we stay close to Him and the Spirit then you can trust in the Lord's judgement and trust He as placed in you."  We also can't just pray and say, "What should I do?"  We need to come ready to act.  We should come with things like this, "I am planning on taking this course Heavenly Father please confirm that this is in harmony with your will for me or help me realize that I need to change course.  Then we must act and He will help us know if we have made the right choice. 

President Stanley talked about the Atonement.  He said, "Take the miracles out of Judaism, the Islamic religion, or Buddhism and nothing major in their religion would change.  Christianity however is based upon the greatest miracle of all, the Atonement.  Take away that and we have nothing.   With the increased vision that we have also comes increased motivation to do what God expects us to do."  I'm so grateful for the atonement and for the eternal perspective that we have in the church.  It is such a major blessing.  I love you all and miss you heaps.  I'm praying for you always and hope you have a spectacular week! 

Much love,

Sister Shayne

Mosiah

2:8 First General Conference Ensign

2:36 Don't be this person

2:41 Never-ending happiness :)

3:17 Only Christ can save us.  How well do you know Him?  How can you improve that relationship?

ALL OF CHAPTER 3  Beautiful prophesies of Christ.

4:6-10 Salvation comes only through Christ

5:7 Everything in the gospel is between you and God.

6:1 We are a record keeping people

7:33 Trust in God

10:17 What are you teaching your kids?

13:3,9 But if not!  Abinadi is the man.  If he would have denied his testimony then the Book of Mormon would have ended here.  How can sharing your testimony effect someone around you?

14:1-5 This book is truly another testament of Jesus Christ. 

This is the only picture that was taken with my camera this week haha  I love Aeronny :) hahahaha!  This is a Macca's (McDonalds) chocolate frappe.

 
Oh and this one for Sloan.  A sign that somewhere in the world someone needs him.  ;)

 

I love to see the temple :)‏

Hello! 

This week I am emailing you from our Relief Society Presidents house.  Yesterday she came up to us at church ad said, "Sisters, I need your help tomorrow.  I need a couple copies of the Book of Mormon and a Restoration DVD.  I have the JW's coming over.  Can you be at my house at 9:30?"  She let us bring our washing and do our emails while we wait for them to show up :)  It should be interesting.  

 

Last Monday we were supposed to go to the zoo with our Elders and the Sister Training Leaders.  I told the Sister Training Leaders that they needed to be at our train station by 2 in order to have time to go.  At 3:40 they were just leaving their area to drive down.  I told them to just stay up there because it wasn't worth the drive because it wouldn't give us enough time for the zoo anyway.  They were sad.  We ended up just going over to Aeronny's house with the Elders and playing soccer at the park by their house.  It was awesome.  Our goals were the Elder's shoes.  The goals were about a meter wide and our field was really small.  Elder Eti, Elder Cook and I were on one team and Sister Tomaki, Elder Maughan, and Elder Tiuera made up the other team.  About halfway through Elder Eti said, "Okay Islanders vs Americans now!"  We all just laughed.  We didn't switch up the teams because we knew we would get smashed.  I was glad that we made a could-have-been-sour p-day into one where we had heaps of fun.  

 

This week we went and saw the Ingrams.  Sister Ingram was raised in the church but with being so far away from family and having her husband work away for 28 days and be home for only 9 days it makes getting to church and things hard for her.  She has 3 kids and one on the way.  We went and visited them a few weeks ago and have seen them every week since.  Her daughter is named Bree.  She is about to turn 8 and wants to be baptized.  Her mum said she doesn't want to have her be baptized right when she turns 8 because she doesn't think she's been raised with it well enough to make the decision.  We have started teaching their family the missionary lessons.  We were really excited because the Plan of Salvation lesson was planned for the week dad was supposed to be home.  We walked in and Wayne, the dad, was laying on the couch with his leg in a brace from his hip to his ankle.  I knew straight away what he had done.  He had taken a funny jump while playing basketball during his day off at the mines and tore this patella tendon which is the tendon that holds your kneecap in place.  He showed me some awesome pictures that Sister Tomaki shuddered at.  He will be home for the next 6 weeks at least with his leg in that brace.  He went straight in for surgery and came out with about 20 staples down the front of his knee.  We talked about the Plan of Salvation that night and the Spirit was so strong.  For their commitment we invited them to write down the next thing they need to do in order to get to the Celestial Kingdom.  I encourage all of you to do this.  For Sister Tomaki and I we joked that our next step is to finish our missions so we can get married.  We have taught this lesson to a lot of families in the ward where boys need the priesthood, someone needs a patriarchal blessing to help them know what their next step is, people preparing for missions, little ones preparing for baptism, and the list goes on and on.  For each of us the next step in order to achieve the big step are the little answers we already know and love; to come to church, read our scriptures, and say our prayers.  So write down your next needed ordinance and the things that you need to do to help you get there.  It's a great activity to make sure everyone is on the right path back home. :) 

 

Lastly Friday night was the best night I've had in a really really long time.  I haven't been in the temple since I think last August or so when I was training Sister Kennar.  Sister Tomaki and I about a month ago found a family name on my Grandpa Shelton's side to take to the temple to be baptized for.  Well Friday night was our ward temple night so we got to go with Jordan and Sione (Sister Mutu's daughter and son-in-law).  On Thursday Sister Tomaki was asking me heaps of questions about baptisms for the dead and then it clicked in my head that she had never done baptisms for the dead before!  The closest temple to Vanuatu is Fiji.  The first time she had been to a temple was when she was at the MTC in New Zealand and went through for her endowment.  With realizations like this I always seem to send a chastisement home...haha brace yourselves.  We are sooo blessed to live so close to a temple that we could walk if we really needed to.  Josh and Dad I know could ride their bikes there with ease.  With it being summer break I hope you have all gone at least once a week.  Sister Tomaki said that in order to get married in the temple she will have to get a degree and job first so that they can save and save and save to fly to Fiji to be sealed.  What an incredible blessing we have to be able to just go sit at the temple grounds when we are having a bad day.  You never really notice how nice you have it until it is gone or you hear others experiences.  I biggest excuse is that we are too busy.  Sister Dench the other day at church said, "BUSY: Being Under Satan's Yoke."  How true that is.  Sophie always said a quote to me that said, "If you are too busy to read your scriptures and pray [and I'll add go to the temple], then you are busier then God ever intended you to be."  Let us be the temple-attending people that President Monson says we are.  I haven't done baptisms for the dead for nearly 2 years now and I can't explain how close I felt to heaven as I was baptized for my ancestor Mrs. Ann Britton.

They are just waiting for us to get into gear.  Grandma Shelton always told us that the more people we help by doing their work in the temple the more people we have pleading for Heavenly Father to let us in to heaven when we pass on.  I don't know about you but I definitely feel like I will need their help to get there in the end.  The temple is a beautiful place.  I wouldn't trade my recommend for anything in this world.  I cherish my temple recommend.  I hope you all have a great week and make that time to go serve the Lord in His holy house.  I love you all can't wait to hear about how the first swim practices and meets go.  Train hard Ben and David.  I'm pretty sure you will both be better than me by the time I get home.  Ben  will have to teach me how to sprint and David will have to teach me the strokes :)  Love you all! 

Much love, 

Sister Shayne

If you are with me on this reading then in the next day or so you should be finished with the first 7 books in the Book of Mormon!.   How exciting :) 

 

2 Nephi

27:7,9,15-17 Compare this to the story of the Book of Mormon translations got to Professor Charles Anton in Joseph Smith History 1:64-65

28:2 The Book of Mormon is of great worth unto us

28:21-22 Don't give in to Satan

29:6-9 Touchdown! Book of Mormon for the win! 

ALL OF CHAPTER 31 This is the Gospel of Jesus Christ 

32:3 Feast upon the words of Christ

33:3 Every missionary has felt this.  

33:10-15  Nephi will see us at the judgement bar!  What will we have to say about the words that Nephi has written for us?  

 

Jacob

2:18-19 Seek God's will first. Then if your intent for other desires is righteous then you will be rich. 

4:4 Why the plates were written.

5:22 God has put your where you are for a reason.  Even if you feel like you have been put int he worst spot possible He has a greater purpose behind it.

5:41 This is how God feels about us when we let the world affect us.

5:61-62 October 2012? 

7:9-11 Heck ya another touchdown! Read your scriptures :) 

 

Enos

1:27 I want to be able to say this and hear Heavenly Father tell that to me.  

 

 I saw Sister Hadlock at a Stake Relief Society thing on Saturday.  We had to get a picture because I don't think I'll see her again before she leaves in August.  A bunch of the sisters are going home a transfer early for school.  Sister Wyatt, Sister Ensign and I are the only 3 I know that are staying til September.   

Went tracting the other night.  I couldn't find my bug stray.  Said a prayer I wouldn't get eaten alive.  My prayer wasn't answered.  I counted 15 bites in all.  Sleeping is really impossible.  It takes so much self control to not itch.  I have awesome cream to put on it that Sister Lindsay gave me last time I got attacked in Alexander Heights when I was serving with Sister Terry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also burnt my hand while I was curling my hair for church on Sunday.  I was reaching for another piece of hair as I let the hair that was in the curling iron out.  The bare iron brushed against my hand.  I ran it under cool water and then applied cream.   I turned out way worse than it originally felt.

 

This is my cute companion.  I love this sister!  

 

Friday is the best!‏

G'day!

This was an interesting weekend.  On Friday I didn't think I was going to have anything to email you today because our week up until that point had been pretty uneventful.  Then Friday started and now I'm going to have to type fast to tell you about it all. 

 

Last Monday we gave up most of our p-day to bake cupcakes as a district.  Elder Teuira had this great idea to bake goodies and wrap them up and deliver them to less actives and investigators to show them our love.  We went to Brother Chirsty's house to bake because he has a big oven.  The problem is that without his wife in town we weren't able to go inside.  Sister Tomaki and I sat in the back yard while the Elders did the baking.  I had to take some good pictures.  They had accomplished mixing 3 boxes of batter and put them all in tins and in the oven.  I was so proud.  Then Elder Teuira turned to the bench and started to clean up in order to start the vanilla batch.  He looked at the bench, then at the oven, and back at the bench.  He dropped to his knees and opened the oven.  I knew from the look on his face that something was wrong.  Low and behold they had left out the eggs.  Our sister ward missionary showed up then and we were able to go in and fix the problem.  We pulled out all of the tins, scrapped them back into the mixer with the eggs, and started again.  There is a photo of Elder Cook and I scrapping the mix back into the bowl.  All was well!  We managed to save the cupcakes.  The delivery was amazing.  The people that received them were nearly in tears.  They definitely felt the love that we were trying to share.

Friday! Good ol' Friday :)

We caught up with our investigator Paris.  We found Paris tracting.  He has only been in Australia for a couple of weeks.  His family is from New Zealand.  When we first met him he wasn't really sure if there is a God or not.  We have only taught him the Restoration.  We went and asked him how his prayers and reading was going.  He said that he has been doing it!  He said that praying was weird at first but he thinks it will get better the more he prays.  He told him that it would.  I asked him if he thought someone was really listening.  He said, "That's the weirdest part!  I really feel like someone is listening!"  It was great to listen to him and see the light that has come into his life.  He then started to tell us about his girlfriend.  "I was talking to my girlfriend the other day and I was telling her that I was thinking about joining the Mormon church.  She seemed pretty keen to listen to it all as well.  I don't want to sound rude or anything but do you happen to have another book that I could give her so she can read too?"  Our jaws literally dropped.  We expressed our excitement and arranged for him to give her a Book of Mormon and then to tee up a time for us to teach them together.  He said, "Let's get her to where I am and then we will come to church together."  We walked away from that lesson just in amazement of what happened.  As we walked down his street we tried to call the District Leader to share our excitement.  Elder Eti didn't' answer.  As I looked down to put the phone in my bag a dog came running up to us.  I reached down to pet it while the owner put down her gardening tools and came to get her dog.  Her name is Claire.  She talked to us for a little bit and then asked us if we would like some water before we needed to keep walking.  We said yes and she let us in to her home.  You never say no when someone offers water.  She let us sit down and we got talking.  She sat down and said, "Okay so where are you from, what church to do you go to what what do you believe?"  I just smiled and said, "Those are our favorite questions!"  We sat and taught her the entire Restoration.  Because we were walking we weren't carrying a lot with us and I had just given our only spare copy of the Book of Mormon to Paris.  We asked if we could come back and give her a copy and tell her more about it.  She said yes and we set up a time on Monday to go by and visit.  We went yesterday and she left a note on her door for us.  It read, "Sisters I'm sorry I'm not home to chat I had to go run some emergency errands.  I misplaced your number!  If you leave me a card with your number I'll make sure we get a time later this week to chat.  I'm free tomorrow, Thrusday and Friday.  Thank you and God bless."  We took that as a good sign of her sincerity and left our card and number.  We will go by later this week for sure."

 

Friday night our phone fell out of my pocket and went for a swim in the toilet.  I never realized how much we rely on phones until ours was broken.  I did all I knew to do and pulled the phone a part and put it in rice and prayed.

Saturday we had a massive service project in Baldivis.  There is a children's forest there.  What they do is they put up big fences so that kids can come and plant seedlings to keep the world green.  The fences are up so that the roos don't come and eat all of the little seedlings.  Well with 26 missionaries and a dozen or so ward members we had the tasks of taking down a fence, putting a new fence up in a different location, and laying retec (sprinklers) in an area where they had just planted seedlings.  We were in the group that was in charge of taking down a fence.  That is not an easy job.  Sister Tomaki and I were in charge of cutting the wires that held the fence together and that connected it to the metal poles and big wooden posts that held the fence up.  It was a good 3 hour project just to take down this fence.  When we had all of the supplies of the fence taken down and in a big pile the man in charge piled as many of the big wooden posts in his van as possible.  There weren't very many left so a ward member offered that we would just carry them back to the main area.  We were about a kilometer from the main area and we were straight down a hill.  Each of us grabbed a big post and put in on our shoulder and headed up the hill.  When we got to the top we only had like 20 steps left and two elders came up to Sister Tomaki and I and asked if they could help us.  I looked at them and just said, "Nah I got it from here."  I wanted to add "You just go back and relax against the truck.  If I needed your help it was half way up that hill that we just climbed."  But I kept my mouth shut and felt proud that I helped in such an awesome way.  The next morning my shoulder were sooooo sore!  Our Elders were late for church and I think it's because they couldn't move.  Once we finished there they hopped on the train and went to help Bishop's family move for another 4 hours or so.  They are my heroes this week. 

At church we learned about Samson and Ruth in our Gospel Doctrine class.  It was fun to contrast the two people in scripture.  We talked about how in Samson's story you rarely hear about God whereas in Ruth you read about God a lot.  We talked about the difference in our lives when we live the gospel and are blessed and when we fall short and things start to go down hill.  I couldn't help but think of the youth that come home from Girls Camp or EFY and say, "That was the best week of my life" or returned missionaries that say, "That was the best 2 years of my life."  I want to take them by the shoulders and say, "Stop!  Listen to what you just said! That week or 2 years was when you were away from tv, your phone, the internet, and everything worldly and you said your prayers everyday, read your scriptures every day, and surrounded yourself with people that do the same!"  It really is amazing the simplicity of the gospel and how much we are blessed when we do the little things.  

 

Last cool story comes from our public holiday yesterday.  Since it was a holiday we had to work.  Our Relief Society President had given us a handful of sisters in the ward that they didn't know anything about or that hadn't been visited in a long time.  We texted the Elders and got as much info as possible about them.   One family has two girls, Stevie and Joannah.  We felt really prompted to go see them even though the Elders said that they probably wouldn't be very open.  We went and the older Sister expressed that she had been thinking about her home teacher all week long.  They had been having some major trials and needed some help.  She has this next Sunday off of work and was planning on coming to church even before we showed up because she said that she felt like it was the right thing to do.  We were amazed and how much we just needed to be there.  I'm so grateful for the spirit!  I love President Monson's example about never postponing or shaking off a prompting.  As we are in tune with the spirit we will never be led astray.  I can't explain how grateful I am for that.  My testimony grows everyday.  I love being a missionary!  I don't know how many times I've said that but it is so true.  I love this gospel.  I love that I come from a wonderful family.  I'm excited that my littlest brother chose to be baptized.  I feel privileged to be the big sister of so many great younger siblings.  They lift me and support me more then they know.  I love you all and miss you heaps!

Much love,

Sister Shayne

2 Nephi9:6-7 The whole plan in 2 verses
9:20 He knows all
9:45 Put off sin and come unto Christ!
ALL OF CHAPTER 9 haha :)
10:16 Are we against God or for God?
10:23-25 Cheer up!  Choose to be saved
22:2 My strength and my song
There are 433 verses of Isiah's writing in the Book of Mormon and Nephi tells us how to understand him in 25:4.
25:16-20 This is simply amazing
25:28 This is it!

ALL OF CHAPTER 25

26:33 We just need to come

The goodie drop is called a Pixie Drop.  Elder Cook and I scrapping mix.

Elder Teuira and I putting the mix back in tins.

 

The whole gang.

This is Elder Eti :)  He is the best district leader!

 

Elder Maughan and Elder Teuira trying to make cupcakes without eggs haha

Elder Teuira and I making sure we used all of the mix 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 These are the posts that we dug up and then carried.  They were about 2 feet in the ground.  They were pretty heavy.

 

Rain rain go away!‏

G'day everyone!

Just letting you know that I am staying in Golden Bay.  I'll be here for another transfer to finish up Sister Tomaki's training.  This has been a gloomy week in a few ways.  Before I get to that I do have some funny things to share. 

We visited our investigator Faith this week.  She would be a member but her husband won't let her be baptized.  We've been reteaching her all of the lessons and she shared a great story with us this week.  We had just taught her about priesthood authority when she got a call from her husband.  He was telling her about this guy at work that had the audacity to tell him what to do even though the guy wasn't certified to be helping him.  He asked Faith if she would have listened to him and she said, "No because he doesn't have the right authority!"  He agreed and kept going on about this situation while Faith was just sitting there smiling to herself and laughing that he agreed with her but she was relating it to the gospel.  She just said, "I love having my own little Mormom joke!"  We laughed so hard.  We told her that some day his heart will soften and he will give you a funny look when he is taught about the priesthood authority.  She loved it.

We had an amazing lesson with our investigator Kevin this week.  We brought 2 members, Laurie and Molly.  They are both recent converts.  Molly was baptized about 5 years ago and Laurie (Lawrence) is coming up on his 1 year mark.  They are being sealed in the temple in September.  They are a powerhouse couple.  We basically just sat back while they taught the lesson.  It was incredible!  It opened Kevin's heart more than anything else we could have done.  I'm so grateful for the testimony of members. 

It has done nothing this week except rain.  I'm already sick of rain and winter just started.  To quote Sister Tomaki, "I hate this weather.  It makes people feel weak.  No one really wants to do anything."  Amen Sister!  Rain just seems to put a damper on everyone's mood.  And when it rains it doesn't just rain like a nice little shower. . . it pours.  We got home one night to find a swimming pool in front of our house. I had to take pictures to prove it.  Our normal 15 minute drive home from church turned into a 25 minute drive because we were only going about 40 kph on the highway.  I just had to stay focused on the little white reflectors on the road so that I knew I was on the right path.  It was terrifying.  Indeed the lousy weather as brought lousy answers of doors, phone calls, appointments with investigators, less-actives, and members.  I have been on my knees a lot this week. We visited a member that is struggling. We asked her how her prayers were going and she said they weren't.  I said, "Can we start there?"  She responded rather bitterly by saying, "Yous can start there."  It was a really hard lesson to get through.  She isn't ready to do anything.  It is so hard to see people who know exactly what they need to do to be happy not doing any of it.  The blessings are being withheld only because she won't accept them by acting.  I just got in the car and cried.  

 

We got to the flat for dinner and I again was on my knees.  We had some members that have some problems with the church.  They don't quite know why some things are the way they are.  They do what they are supposed to because they know they will be blessed but it's only half hearted because they don't like this or that.  I'm being vague for specific reasons.  I just want everyone to know that the Lord doesn't do things just because it's going to bless one group of people or anything like that.  He gives everyone the same commandments to bless everyone who willingly obeys them.  It seemed like Heavenly Father was trying to get me to learn something this week.  I got the picture loud and clear.  I've felt really low because of many things.  I've studied faith and repentance more than I thought ever possible.  I've tried everything in my power to make things happen and for some reason they just weren't working.  At Zone Meeting on Friday we talked about our purpose as missionaries.  The whole meeting was like a spiritual slap in the face.  I can't put it all to words because much of it was just things that I needed to hear. 

 

I've felt kinda down because I haven't seen fruit from our investigators and our work with them.  We've actually dropped nearly everyone that we had to teach in the last few weeks.  We made a focus the other week to build the members and less-actives.  We thought, "If we can help strengthen them then they will help strengthen us and our efforts."  For the most part the last few weeks have brought success on that front.  I was just continually praying that our leaders would see it that way as well.  

 

While we were driving the other day we were listening to a General Conference talk and the speaker said, "Where there is faith there comes a trial of that faith.  That trial will bring forth increased faith."  I needed to hear that too.  Heavenly Father will always find ways to help us and usually rebuke us in one way or another.   That increase of faith came yesterday at church.  On Saturday we went and visited the Fiti family.  We found out that they didn't have rugby games on Sunday and would be able to come with us to church.   We went home and started to make phone calls.  We found fellowship for the older brother from the Driessen boys.  We called the Primary president to tell her that she would have 3 extra kids in primary this week and found out that her daughter is Kaya's age!  We texted Bishop and Brother Day and told them that the Fiti family would be coming.  We did everything we could think of to make this family be welcomed and to feel at home.  Sunday came and church started.  No sign of the Fiti's.  I was gutted.  So much planning. So many prepared people to help.  It was a hard sacrament meeting to sit through.  I said a lot of prayers and did a lot of soul searching.  At the end of sacrament Sister Tomaki stood up and turned around to see if they had snuck in without us knowing.  Low and behold they were there!  They had found people they know, the fellowship took their roles, and they all stayed for all 3 hours.  Later Sister Tomaki during companionship study read this to me, "Your success as a missionary is measured primarily by your commitment to find, teach, baptize, and confirm people and to help them become faithful members of the Church who enjoy the presence of the Holy Ghost.  She said, "I just knew they would come.  I didn't get discouraged.  The Spirit knew that we had done our part."  Another spiritual slap to the face.  I definitely learned the teaching of turning the other cheek this week.   Spiritual slap after slap.  I learned what I needed to.  Now I just need to act and apply what I've learned. 

 

After church we joined Ward Council Meeting.  Bishop took the time after we had given our reports to say, "Missionaries, I just want you to know how grateful I am for all of your hard work.  We don't have a lot of baptisms coming up but the amount of returning members that I've seen the last two weeks makes me incredibly happy and grateful for your efforts."  I could have cried.  Bishop couldn't have said anything else that could have helped me more.  It was another prayer answered.

 

Heavenly Father is always mindful of us.  I'm so grateful for that.  Keep faith in every footstep.  Every time we go through the wilderness of life it is just preparing us to reach the promise land.  I have a strong testimony of that.  If you are going through a trial know that it is just testing the faith that you have.  The faith is there, it's being tested, and it will be strengthened as long as we keep close to Him.  This is the scripture that carried me through the rain this week and I hope it can help someone else.  James 1:2-4 "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; 3: Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4: But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." 

 

I love you all and hope you have a great full first week of summer! 

Much love,

Sister Shayne

Book of Mormon Week 2!

1 Nephi

17:45  Lamen and Lemuel give us a good example that you can have knowledge without having faith.  Faith is necessary to be converted.

18:16 Do we complain after our trails?

21:14-16 God hath not forgotten thee

2 Nephi

2:13 This is one of my personal favorite.  Everything happens for a reason.

3:15 How cool would it be to be Joseph Smith and to read about yourself!

4:15-16 Is that how we feel?

4:34-35 Let's do this!

7:5  Are your ears open? 

Photo's of the flooding from the rain

 Happy Sisters. 

 

CTR rings!

Sunset :)

Too Much To Tell

G'day everyone!

There has been soo much that has happened this week.  I've decided to just stick to the most important and best stories.  Some small tender mercies that happened this week we are praying will become great stories for future emails.  I want to start with some super funny stories first.

I love having a companion that is learning English.  Sister Tomaki and I were talking about the commandment of keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  We have a family that is struggling coming to church because of rugby games on Sundays.  I asked Sister Tomaki how we can help them come to church and she said, "Can't they just ask the coach to move games to Saturdays?"  I explained that rugby union plays on Saturday and rugby league plays on Sundays.  She didn't like that answer and asked again why it has to be that way.  I said, "That's pretty much all of Australia."  She pushed her chair back and said, "Well that's why no one believes in Jesus Christ anymore!"  I laughed soo hard.  I agreed that other things are coming in place of Sunday worship and it is really hurting people's spirituality. 

The other great thing that happened was as we were reading the Book of Mormon for language study.  Now we do a whole variety of things for language study from singing the hymns and learning the words she doesn't know, to using a booklet that the Senior Couple over languages gave to us.  In that book we have done a fair bit of rhyming words.  At the end of the chapter in the Book of Mormon we were reading Sister Tomaki came across the word 'abomination'.  We talked about that word for a bit and she just got quiet and I could tell she was thinking of something and just waited to hear what she would say.  She started whispering under her breath and finally said, "A Polynesian!"  She was finding something to rhyme so that she could remember how to say that word.  :)  I couldn't help but laugh and when she thought about what she said we ended up in tears we were laughing so hard.  It was great!      

On to more spiritual things.  This week in Sister Tomaki's 12 week program we have been studying the spirit and how to act on the promptings we receive.  Well the other night we didn't have any set appointments so we had written down a couple of names of people to go see.  After dinner I asked her who she thought we should go see.  She said Sister James.  Sister James wasn't on our list of people to see but I trusted her and we acted.  We couldn't have come to her house at a better time.  The week leading up to that had been one of the worst weeks for Sister James.  It seemed like the whole world caved down on her.  When we showed up she had just finished crying to her non-member husband and had been to her dad earlier in the day to work out a plan to help her get her life back in order.  We shared 3 Nephi 19:9 (my current favorite scripture to share) and talked about the Spirit and how much it can help us in our lives.  It was amazing.  We left and I offered a prayer in the car for Sister James and to thank Heavenly Father for prompting Sister Tomaki to say her name.  It was a great thing to see the Spirit work and for Sister Tomaki to get that experience. 

We are currently on Bishop Mandin's good list :)  That is a great place to be.  He texted us Thursday arvo (afternoon) and asked if we could go visit Sister Ingram.  She is a young mum with 3 kids that just needs some encouragement to get to church.  We again didn't have any set appointments so we took his text as a great honor and told him we would get right on it.  We went around that night and said hi to her and her kids.  We got to know her and shared Moroni 6:4-6 and talked about the importance of church attendance.  We made a game plan to get her to church on Sunday and then left.  We texted Bishop back and told him what we did.  He was pretty happy.  Then we asked if there was anyone else he needed us to check up on.  He said to go see Sister Northam.  We had a lesson with her on Saturday and it was amazing.  She talked with us for a good while and we really built a great friendship.  Both Sisters were at church yesterday :)  Bishop saw me after sacrament and said, "They are both here!  I saw Sister Ingram sneak in the back at the start of sacrament!"  He gave me a high five and then carried on to go greet people.  It was awesome.

Last thing for today comes from a lesson that back fired on us.  We've been working with a less active girl named Shanae.  Well at the end of our lesson she said, "Sisters I don't mean to be rude but I'm really not interested with church or anything with it."  We talked for a bit and realized that she will come back when she is ready and now it not that time.  It cut me pretty deep.  I want this part of this letter to be specifically for anyone reading it that may feel  like they have done too much to be forgiven by God, for those who feel like God doesn't love them, or that life would just be easier if you just stay in a state of apostasy because you've already fallen and it's to late to come back.  IT IS NOT SO.  God loves you.  He wants you to come back.  He sent His Son to die so that you can repent, change, and come back.  Whatever it may take, however hard it may seem, whoever needs to be healed it is possible through the Atonement of Christ.   Please, if you are feeling this way, study the atonement.  Find out how that event in time applies to you.  Because it does.  It applies to us each so individually and in every way shape or form that we may need it at any time in our lives.  You have never ventured too far to come back.  God's hand is always extended towards us.  I could give you a list of scriptures that tell us that but I wouldn't deny you the privilege of finding them and seeing God's love for yourself.  All we have to do is reach up and take His hand and he will help us through anything.  If you ever feel like it would just be better without God in our life, think again.  Find a connection to Him.  He is only every a prayer away.  We talk to him through prayer and He talks to us through the scriptures or other people.  Pray, read, and go to church.  I can promise you if you start with those 3 things you won't need anything else.  Just try it.  It can't hurt.  You can give 1-3 hours a week towards this experiment.  If nothing comes from it after trying it several times then you are no worse off.  I know though that if you go and do those things that you will see the difference in your live and you will draw closer to Heavenly Father.  10 mins here for reading, 5 minutes or less there for prayers, 1-3 hours a week for church.  Those little things will bring a lifetime of happiness, guidance, joy, peace, family success, and eventually eternal blessings that we can't even begin to imagine.  The worst that could happen is that you don't try.  Like I said you are never too far to come back.  Ever.  Start today with a prayer.  Do it right now if you need to.  God wants to help you.  Your Heavenly Father wants to hear from you.  The Savior can lift our burdens.  I only know this because I've seen it in my life.  I've seen in in countless others.  Heavenly Father loves you more than you can comprehend.  Please turn back to Him. 

I love you all :)  I hope that you feel God's love in your life every day.  I pray that the blessings that you stand in need of will come as you follow His commands.  I love this gospel.  Being a missionary is the greatest thing in the world.  Share something you know to be true with someone you love.  It will make your day so much better.

Love you all heaps!

Sister Shayne

At the end of every email from now on I'm going to give you my Book of Mormon reading updates.  For those of you who want to join us the challenge I issued is to read 5 pages of the Book of Mormon everyday.  I've done my first week and I want to share my favorite scriptures that I read throughout the week with you.  If you haven't started I hope these will get you started. :)

1 Nephi

1:20 There are tender mercies all around us.  Look for them everyday and you will see God's hand in your life more abundantly.

3:5 All commandments come from God.  Not your parents, not the apostles, not your leaders, they come from God and we should accept them and live them as such.

8:30  I hope this is the group that we are all a part of.

12:11 How is your faith today?

13:37 Again I want this to be each and every one of us.

15:11 If you have a question, need, or anything just ask!

Pic.  This is for Emily Wells!  Thank you for your love and kindness!!! Kaya loved her praying chart!