Skip to main content

Australia week 1

So, A lot has happened in the week and a half it's been since I wrote last. I'm no longer in the Bronx, but my visa came and I am writing from Australia. Funny story...
So I had been working with some investigators and such, and was having a fair bit of success. The people in the Bronx were amazing, and I loved them. My companion and trainer, Elder Fuller had been steadily increasing the amount of work, we had been slowly but surely increasing the numbers for the area, and we were starting to see some real growth in our investigators. Then, as I was out getting lunch after the district meeting on Monday, I was at the Checkers off Fordham near the church, and I got a call from Sister Dennison who worked in the mission office. She informed me that my visa had arrived and that I needed to get my things ready because my flight left at 6 PMthat afternoon. This call was received around 2 PM. Due to the international nature of the flight, I needed to be at the airport by 4 with an hour long drive from the Bronx to JFK. I'm sure you can imagine my surprise that I had a little less than an hour to prepare my things and get ready to go to Australia. After getting the call, I waited for my food to come, ran over to a cee and cee department store, bought a suitcase, ran back to the church to pick up my backpack and say good bye to the rest of our zone, and ran home with 30 minutes to pack...
At the time that all of this was going on, I literally could not feel anything. It was a whole range of emotions. I was excited to get to go to Australia, but incredibly sad and upset to be leaving the wonderful ward and people that I was serving. Especially without the opportunity or time for proper goodbyes or even any goodbyes at all. Nevertheless, I made it to the airport on time, made my flight, and began my 28 hour journey to the Land Down Under. The flight was mostly uneventful. Long. The plane was late getting to Sydney and I had to catch a later flight to Melbourne, but all was well. I made it unharmed, unless you count exhaustion... I was so very tired.
I found out that the preferred method of finding here is street contacting and talking to new people. Given the fact that I have an extreme and uncontrollable fear of new people, it is a challenge, and has been a challenge, and I'm expecting it to continue to be a challenge for a long time...
So this week has been filled with mixed emotion. My excitement that I had at the MTC to come to Australia has been replaced by a feeling of unfinished business in the Kingsbridge 2nd ward in the Bronx. But I'm trusting that God knows what he's doing, and that I am where I am because that's where I'm supposed to be. 

Popular posts from this blog

First full week in AUS

Hello Everybody! So I have officially survived a full week in Australia! My Vietnamese is still pretty terrible. I mostly just sit quietly in lessons and smile. (like this ^_^) and nod. We work with a lot of University students from Vietnam. So retention can be difficult, but the members are super solid! We have some amazing members currently, and there is a lot of great things happening. I've heard that there was a super big announcement in the broadcast, but as of yet, I don't know what it is... I haven't seen it yet. I can't wait to find out though. I've seen a lot of opposition here, and ultimately every objection I've heard can be directly answered in the bible, supported by the Book of Mormon. But people have their agency and the right to find out for themselves. There is a huge difference between here and the Bronx. In the Bronx, people respected the missionaries and would keep their ill mannered thoughts to themselves. Here people speak them openly, even...
Read more

start of week 8 (i know its a week late) :)

Today is the first day of Week eight, and my oh my, has week seven been eventful. With the awesome Mission Conference, amazing devotionals on Sunday and  Tuesday , and a super awesome surprise that I'll tell you all later.   So, for the gospel topic of the week, it's a continuation on the Atonement.   In Moses  6:59 -60 it states: 59 That by reason of transgression cometh the fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as ye were born into the world by water, and blood, and the  a spirit , which I have made, and so became of  b dust  a living soul, even so ye must be  c born again  into the kingdom of heaven, of  d water , and of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the blood of mine Only Begotten; that ye might be sanctified from all sin, and  e enjoy  the  f words  of  g eternal life  in this world, and eternal life in the world to come, even immortal  h glory ; 60 For b...
Read more

Birthdays, Sundays and Fun days

So, I am officially 22. The mission has just gotten a lot different. The Vietnamese program is growing and I'm feeling pretty reminiscent.  This past week, the Vietnamese program in Melbourne went from 4 elders to 9, with another coming in September. 4 came fresh from the MTC, and 1 is finishing his mission here (he was trained with a Vietnamese elder, and was quasi in the program for 6 months of his mission). Oddly enough, I'm not training. I have been placed with one of the Zone Leaders, but am not a ZL. My area has changed from Footscray to North Richmond, and I have a lot of work ahead of me. So, the baptism that was supposed to happen a week and a half ago is now happening on Friday. I may no longer be her missionary, but she has asked that I perform the baptism! WHOO YEAH! Another of my old investigators is also being baptized on the same day, and at the same time. He is awesome and I'm so grateful to have been a part in bringing them closer to Christ. From th...
Read more