Sunday, November 10, 2013

More Holiness Give Me‏

Hey everyone! 

I don't have a whole lot to report this week.  It's been a pretty challenging week in Alexander Heights.  Sister Terry and I are studying faith and just working our hardest in this area.  We have been trying to really help our sister in our Zone with their work in progressing their friends towards baptism.  Well we have seen success!  The Midland Sisters had a baptism this last Saturday and the Ellenbrook and Wembley Sister both set baptismal dates with investigators that they are working with.  We've been really excited with the progress of the work here in WA.  The only  thing that is getting us down is that we are supposed to be setting the example with our area and we are trailing behind.  It's been a hard, frustrating week.  We also got less kilometers this month which basically means our car is for exchanges and p-days only.  We are back on the bikes in the wonderfully awful heat and humidity of Western Australia.  I finally have gotten some sun though so that is a plus.  I bought sunscreen and bug spray to keep the mosquitoes and flies away.  I don't know if I mentioned this last week but the fly is the state bird of WA.  They are EVERYWHERE!!! They are slow and fat too so when you swing at them you actually hit them.  I killed on the other day while we were trying to plan our activities for the next day.  Sister Terry drew a picture of it :) 
 
 
We, Sister Terry and I, have been really monitoring the music we listen to lately.  We have been listening to heaps of church hymns and its amazing what kind of difference it makes when you go from listening to good songs by good church artists and when you listen to the lyrics of the hymns we sing at church.  The song More Holiness Give Me has given me a lot of strength this week.  As we've tracted from door to door we've heard words I never thought I'd hear, met people that we less than rude, and just simply been shut down by the slam of the door.  It's been hard.  Missionary work is work!  I always know it's hard but we were definitely being tried and tested this week.  After about 45 mins of no one being interested I had this song come to my head so I started to sing as we walked to the next set of houses.  "More purity give me, more strength to o'ercome." "More faith in my Savior, more sense of His care." "More joy in His service, more purpose in prayer."  Those lines just continued to be played through my mind.  I've been grateful for the spirit that these songs bring.  It's just another way that I know Heavenly Father is watching out for me and cares for me.  Even though I need to learn something through the struggles we are facing I still know that He is there.  He always will be.  I know it!  I just know it.  Yesterday our primary had their primary program.  They were wonderful.  The songs they sang were word for word from the littlest sunbeam to the oldest valiant child.  They were beautiful.  They taught the entire gospel in the most simple and perfect way.  There wasn't a dry eye in the room.  When Bishop Holder got up he was in tears.  I couldn't help but think about Ben and David singing up there with their awesome knowledge of the gospel and having dad stand up after and bear his testimony of the strength of the future generation.  This gospel is remarkable.  I love it.  I loved when they sang,  "I want to be the BEST I can and live with God again."  Just like every ward I've ever been in in my life the word best was emphasized.  The gospel is the same all around the world.  This is the only true church on the face of the earth.  I love being able to share it with everyone I meet.  I love you all!
Much love,
Sister Shayne
p.s.  You can't see the Big dipper here. We have the Southern Cross which I found out is the start formation on the Australian flag.  They aren't just randomly placed there.  I'm a slow learner when it comes to some things. 

These pictures are Sister Terry fixing her bike before we went out for the day.


 The awesome sunshine that I got :)

Hope you enjoy.  Sorry this was a pretty lame letter this week.  I'll make the most of this next week and have a better letter next week :)

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