Weekly Update July 29, 2013

G'day mates!

What a long week this has been!! This week Elder Tobe and I set our sights on trying to find people to teach. That meant lots of tracting and street contacting (mission lingo is GQing, or Golden Questioning). Unfortunately, our efforts did not yeild a lot of results. We're going to work a different part of the area this week, and I believe we'll find more success there.

This week was a week of miracles and unforgettable experiences! Our first miracle was with two of our investigators, Rahul and Anita. Rahul, or Ray, is in his late 20s early 30s, and is Anita's son. They are Figian-Indian. We hadn't seen them for about 3 weeks, and in our last appointment with them, we challenged them to read the Book of Mormon everyday for at least 5 minutes. We had previously given them a challenge to read the Book of Mormon, but they hadn't done so. When Elder Tobe and I arrived at their home, I wasn't feeling too confident that they had been reading. To our surprise, Ray had been reading almost every day, and Anita had read a little bit, too! We read Moroni 10: 3-5 with them, and committed them to pray about the Book of Mormon. They said they would. After the lesson, Anita left for work, and we stayed behind to talk with Ray. He is really enjoying the Book of Mormon, and enjoys meeting with us. We have previously only been meeting with them fortnightly, but he wants us to come around weekly. Our next appointment with them is tomorrow. If they have prayed about the Book of Mormon and received an answer, we're going to challenge them to be baptized.

Next miracle: About a month ago, Elder Sualevai and I were riding past the bus station in North Lakes when we heard someone shout "hey Elders!" We turned around and biked over to say hi. One of them was a less-active girl named Malekai. She is living with her boyfriend in North Lakes. We invited her to come to church. She said she would text us if she had time and needed a ride. We gave her our phone number, not feeling too confident we would hear from her. We didn't. But on this past Wednesday, I received a call from her, saying she felt very strongly she needs to come back to church. We told her where the chapel was and what time. She made all the arrangements she needed to get there on her own, and attended yesterday! She really enjoyed being there and is really excited to keep coming back. She brought her family with her to our ward yesterday since she didn't know anyone there. Her mum was very grateful to us that we decided to come and talk to her when we did. This is a miracle to us in two ways: first, that she had made an effort on her own to come to church. Second, her boyfriend--Caleb--told us he would be interested in learning about the church, but we have had no way of contacting him. Now we do!

Finally, and experience I am never going to forget. A family in our ward, the Hanburys, have a Japanese exchange student staying with them for a few weeks. They brought him to church yesterday, and then invited us over for dinner. I was able to watch as Elder Tobe and brother Hanbury--who served his mission in Japan--teach this boy about the church and the restoration of the gospel in Japanese. It was a really awesome experience! They gave him a Japanese Book of Mormon which he said he will read.

Well, that's my week. I hope everybody is doing well. Love you all

Elder Rosier