Just a little background to Ross' update. One of the first investigators Ross ever worked with was a woman named Sue Percival. Ross formed an instant connection with Sue, because many of the questions she had about the gospel were centered around having a special needs child. Ross was able to share with her how the gospel has brought comfort and insight in our lives, as we have traveled the path of caring for Kristen, and his message resonated with Sue. Sue's husband, Ken, was already a member and Sue was scheduled to be baptized in January 2013, but Ross was transferred to Mt. Isa just before Christmas last year, and Ross never knew if the baptism had taken place.
G'day everyone!
What a long week this one has been! the new transfer really got off to a slow start for Elder McIntyre and me. We spent most of the week out tracting and visiting with less-active members in the ward. It wasn't too bad, as we were able to find a few people who invited us back. However, the only teaching we were able to do was a brief lesson we had with the family from Papua New Guinea that we have been meeting with for the last few weeks.
Friday was the day that stands out from the rest. In the early morning, Elder Pickett, one of the other missionaries in the ward, received a phone call from a member who said she needed help. Her dog had gone into labor, and she needed some help assisting the dog. Pickett and I were the only ones who were up and dressed at the time, so off we went to help. We were there most of the day helping mostly with cleaning up after each pup was born. It was an interesting experience, but definitely one I hope I don't have to participate in again!
Saturday and Sunday were stake conference. The stake president requested all the missionaries be at the Saturday night adult meeting, and we attended on Sunday. The conference was in Ipswich, which is on the west side of Brisbane, over 120 km (75 miles) away. Despite the long drive, the conference was really good. Completely focused on members and missionaries working together. I hope that we see a lot of good things come out of it. Sadly, one bad thing came from conference.
One of the speakers was President Jon Glass from the Brisbane temple presidency. He lives in Springwood ward, my first area. He mentioned in his talk that someone int he ward had recently passed away. I was able to catch up with him after the meeting, and asked him who had passed. I was sad to learn that Sue Percival--one of the investigators I had while in Springwood--was the one who had passed. I am deeply sorrowed by her loss. I was very close with her and her husband, Ken. Unfortunately, Sue had not yet been baptized.
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I would just like to end this email by saying how thankful I am for a merciful and loving Heavenly Father. I know that a part of his plan includes the temple, and the opportunity for saving ordinances to be performed because God loves all of his children, and wants to afford all of them to opportunity to come unto him. I know that Sue can still be baptized, and I have no doubt that she will accept when someone does her work for her.
I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I love you all very much.
Elder Rosier
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Weekly Update November 19, 2013
Hello again everyone!
Today is our transfer day. No changes here in Darling Heights ward. Elder McIntyre and I are still companions, and are looking forward to another transfer working hard here in Toowoomba.
This last week was a good one. We didn't have a lot of time to work at all. We spent two days out of our area. Wednesday we were able to go to the temple. I am very happy that I am in an area where I get the opportunity to attend. We spend the day with our zone in the city, and then spent the night with the missionaries in the Somerset ward, which is about halfway between Toowoomba and the city (Brisbane). Thursday we had a zone conference in Brisbane where we were able to have a long training on the Book of Mormon from our mission president. It was very insightful.
Unfortunately, that's about all I have for this week. it was a pretty dull week. We didn't have much time to work between the trip to Brisbane, and other things we had on our plates. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Love,
Elder Rosier
My letter from Ross had a little more detail and I had a chance for a brief email chat. Here are a few excerpts.
A few weeks ago, Ross asked me to send him the book "The Great Apostasy" by James E Talamage. He received the book last Thursday when he went to zone conference. Ross has always been a voracious reader, and he has expressed to me in letters, how hard it has been to not go into bookstores while on his mission, so he was quite excited to get this book. He wrote the following in his letter to me and during our email exchange:
Mum, (He has always called me that.)
Thanks again for the book. It's a good one. I'm now reading three books by Talmage: Jesus the Christ (almost done). The Articles of Faith, and The Great Apostasy. One thing he notes in the Apostasy is the Great Apostasy occurred on both sides of the world (both the bible and the Book of Mormon lands). That is one thing that, though it should have occurred to me I had never realized before.
Me: I'm smiling. When you were a little boy, you always read three books at a time. Still my little boy. : D
Ross: Ha ha. The other day, Elder Picket commented on how he has no idea how I can possibly read so many books at one time. I just laughed and said I didn't know how I do it either! When you think about it, I'm really reading five books right now: Bible, Book of Mormon, and the three by Talmage.
From my letter:
I hope you all enjoy Thanksgiving. I am going to be sad on Thursday that I am missing it again. Fortunately, the Bolands will be doing an American Thanksgiving for all the missionaries in town next Thursday. We are all very excited for that!
I am doing really well here in Toowoomba. I really enjoy the town. The weather is fantastic. It's cool and dry. When we went to the city last Wednesday, I couldn't get over how hot and humid it was in Brizzy (Brisbane). It was bad! I was sweating like a dog!
Today is our transfer P-Day. None of us Elders have been transferred. One of the sister missionaries is leaving the area. The most exciting thing, though, is we are getting a second car here! Now we will have a car for the sisters and a car for the elders! Up until now we have been sharing one car between the 8 of us...that means you'd get it maybe twice every fortnight.
Today is our transfer day. No changes here in Darling Heights ward. Elder McIntyre and I are still companions, and are looking forward to another transfer working hard here in Toowoomba.
This last week was a good one. We didn't have a lot of time to work at all. We spent two days out of our area. Wednesday we were able to go to the temple. I am very happy that I am in an area where I get the opportunity to attend. We spend the day with our zone in the city, and then spent the night with the missionaries in the Somerset ward, which is about halfway between Toowoomba and the city (Brisbane). Thursday we had a zone conference in Brisbane where we were able to have a long training on the Book of Mormon from our mission president. It was very insightful.
Unfortunately, that's about all I have for this week. it was a pretty dull week. We didn't have much time to work between the trip to Brisbane, and other things we had on our plates. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!
Love,
Elder Rosier
My letter from Ross had a little more detail and I had a chance for a brief email chat. Here are a few excerpts.
A few weeks ago, Ross asked me to send him the book "The Great Apostasy" by James E Talamage. He received the book last Thursday when he went to zone conference. Ross has always been a voracious reader, and he has expressed to me in letters, how hard it has been to not go into bookstores while on his mission, so he was quite excited to get this book. He wrote the following in his letter to me and during our email exchange:
Mum, (He has always called me that.)
Thanks again for the book. It's a good one. I'm now reading three books by Talmage: Jesus the Christ (almost done). The Articles of Faith, and The Great Apostasy. One thing he notes in the Apostasy is the Great Apostasy occurred on both sides of the world (both the bible and the Book of Mormon lands). That is one thing that, though it should have occurred to me I had never realized before.
Me: I'm smiling. When you were a little boy, you always read three books at a time. Still my little boy. : D
Ross: Ha ha. The other day, Elder Picket commented on how he has no idea how I can possibly read so many books at one time. I just laughed and said I didn't know how I do it either! When you think about it, I'm really reading five books right now: Bible, Book of Mormon, and the three by Talmage.
From my letter:
I hope you all enjoy Thanksgiving. I am going to be sad on Thursday that I am missing it again. Fortunately, the Bolands will be doing an American Thanksgiving for all the missionaries in town next Thursday. We are all very excited for that!
I am doing really well here in Toowoomba. I really enjoy the town. The weather is fantastic. It's cool and dry. When we went to the city last Wednesday, I couldn't get over how hot and humid it was in Brizzy (Brisbane). It was bad! I was sweating like a dog!
Today is our transfer P-Day. None of us Elders have been transferred. One of the sister missionaries is leaving the area. The most exciting thing, though, is we are getting a second car here! Now we will have a car for the sisters and a car for the elders! Up until now we have been sharing one car between the 8 of us...that means you'd get it maybe twice every fortnight.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Weekly Update November 12, 2013
G'day!
Much better week this week for Elder McIntyre and myself! We are really starting to see the work progressing in our area. Our week started out pretty slow, and we were afraid that we were going to be having a repeat of last week. Fortunately, mid-way through the week our luck changed and we were fortunate to see a lot of miracles.
Saturday was especially exciting for us. We started out the day by visiting our investigator, Sophie. After seeing her we had lunch and then went to our appointment with the family from Papua New Guinea that we met a fortnight ago. We went over the Restoration discussion with them, and invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We will be seeing them again this coming Saturday. After our appointment with them, we went tracting. One of the first houses we knocked on was the home of a Muslim family from Iraq who invited us in. we had a discussion with the father, Saddam, who is studying engineering at the University of Southern Queensland. We were able to learn quite a bit about Islam, which I found fascinating. He then asked us to share our message with him so he could learn more about Mormonism. It was a ver fun experience, and we were able to leave him with a pamphlet. After our meeting with Saddam, we talked with a fellow who told us he is an atheist, be really feels like there has to be something out there. And a little while after that we found a family who said they are looking for a church to attend. They invited us back this week.
That was all just on Saturday. We had a lot of little miracles scattered throughout the week.
Well, I think that's all I have for today, Unfortunately, I am out of time. I love you all!
Elder Rosier
Ross indicated to us that they will be having a temple p-day tomorrow, and since they will be spending the day traveling, they decided to quickly send some emails today.
Much better week this week for Elder McIntyre and myself! We are really starting to see the work progressing in our area. Our week started out pretty slow, and we were afraid that we were going to be having a repeat of last week. Fortunately, mid-way through the week our luck changed and we were fortunate to see a lot of miracles.
Saturday was especially exciting for us. We started out the day by visiting our investigator, Sophie. After seeing her we had lunch and then went to our appointment with the family from Papua New Guinea that we met a fortnight ago. We went over the Restoration discussion with them, and invited them to read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We will be seeing them again this coming Saturday. After our appointment with them, we went tracting. One of the first houses we knocked on was the home of a Muslim family from Iraq who invited us in. we had a discussion with the father, Saddam, who is studying engineering at the University of Southern Queensland. We were able to learn quite a bit about Islam, which I found fascinating. He then asked us to share our message with him so he could learn more about Mormonism. It was a ver fun experience, and we were able to leave him with a pamphlet. After our meeting with Saddam, we talked with a fellow who told us he is an atheist, be really feels like there has to be something out there. And a little while after that we found a family who said they are looking for a church to attend. They invited us back this week.
That was all just on Saturday. We had a lot of little miracles scattered throughout the week.
Well, I think that's all I have for today, Unfortunately, I am out of time. I love you all!
Elder Rosier
Ross indicated to us that they will be having a temple p-day tomorrow, and since they will be spending the day traveling, they decided to quickly send some emails today.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Weekly Update November 4, 2013
Hello again everyone!
What a week. This week was one of those weeks where nothing seems to work out. Every lesson and appointment we had set up fell through. So what can you do when that happens? Look for people to teach! And we did. All week. Everyday. It was a very long week. However, it was not a bad week, nor were our endeavours frutiless. We were fortunate to find a number of people who said we could come back around. The remaining two weeks of this transfer we will spend sorting through them.
I had a good time on our trade-offs with the Zone Leaders. I went with an elder named Elder O'Connor. I had a fun time with him. It was good finally meet him, since he and I were both trained by Elder Stevenson. I had heard a lot about him, so it was great getting to know him.
Anyways, I think that's all I have for this week. I would like to say Happy Birthday to my grandfather whose footsteps I am following in here in Australia, and to my father who will be turning 50 this week. I am grateful for both of their examples to me in my life.
Love you all!
Elder Rosier
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