High Times!

Hello, family and friends!

It's been an AMAZING, if long, week here in Perth Australia!

Monday was Australia Day, so the libraries were closed, etc. Elder Ward and I have seen so many miracles happening around here, and we have been incredibly blessed to see such success happening in the Noranda area.

Klea and Nicholetta are doing awesomely. They're ready for their baptism next week, and they're excited for it :) We taught them about the ten commandments last week, and Nicholetta, the mum, was astounded when we talked about keeping the sabbath day holy. Her husband, who is in Albania, has been doing that his whole life, and now, she told us, she understood why! The ward has been great with fellowship, and they've made a lot of friends here.

We've got another baptismal date! Eyron Doust, a recent convert here, has a daughter named Hailey. She told us after a lesson that she wanted to learn and be baptised as well! Exctiting. Her date is set for February 22 :) We just need to get permission from her mum.

So many things are happeneing here! I can't even mention all the miracles we've been having. I just feel so blessed to be here at this time, to be able to be a missionary for the Lord.

Today was great! We had the privilege of attending the temple here in Perth, today. I'd been hoping for this last chance, and I'm glad I was able to go inside again.

Tonight, we will be meeting with another part-member family, to teach another new investigator named Mick, from Greece. His son, Ryan, was just baptised recently as well.

President Lindsay has established a mission statement, or "vision," for the mission, which was a focal point in our recent Zone Conference. "We are Full-Purpose missionaries who prepare increasing numbers of God's children for sacred ordinances from baptism through temple covenants. And because we ACT in faith and obedience, God is With us in the work. Make it Happen!"

True.

I love you all! For those of you who are wondering whereabouts I am right now, it's 8/25 Stewart Way, Noranda. Also, of interest, we actually live about 3 minutes away from President Lindsay, at the mission home! It's 27 Hollister way, Noranda.

Have a great rest of your week! Until Monday :)

Love,

Elder Reeder

The Next Heat

Holy cow, (or, if you want to go Reeeally aussie, you could say "Stone the Crows!") it is hot out here! G'day, everybody! It is definitely summer out here! The last few days have seen temperatures of around 40C! I found out that my helmet has been saving me from sunburned face most of the time- but I left it in Rockingham for a couple of days, and I paid for it. Word of advice to all: Sunscreen more than once a day is definitely not a bad idea.

Anyway! This week has been incredible! Transfers happened, and I am now in Noranda, with Elder Ward! He is awesome. Elder Ward is from Logan, Utah, and has been out for 3 months. He played the clarinet in marching band. (What are the odds of that?) We've been getting along really well. He's also a really hard worker, so we've been hitting the area hard, too.

We've got 2 baptismal dates in this area! Their names are Clea and Nicholetta, a mum and her daughter. They are from Albania, and have been here for only about 7 months. It's so cool to teach them; they're both so willing to learn about and to follow Jesus Christ! They're getting baptised on the 8th of February.

We also had a really cool experience tracting this week. We met a young guy named Siniell, who told us to come back in a couple of days. We did, and he invited us in! He didn't really have much of an expectation or reason to do so, he said, he was just curious to hear what we had to say. We taught him about the Book of Mormon, and the restoration of the gospel. He really paid attention when we explained about the book of mormon, and said that he would definitely be reading it himself. He invited us back to learn more! We're excited for him :)

So far this transfer has gone pretty well. My only wish is that it would cool down a bit. Again, there is no air-con in our flat. This one heats up quite a bit, too.

We're having a zone conference this Thursday, so that's something to look forward to again. Also, in March, apparently, Elder James Hamula, of the seventy, is coming to the mission again!

Things are looking good!

Love,

Elder Reeder

Last minute turnaround

Good morning, all you wonderful folks! Today is the dawning of a new morning, a beautiful summer's day, and a new transfer! I've been excited for these next few weeks here in Rockingham East. I really love this area, and especially the members here! We've been really starting to work well with them, and some results were just seen this past weekend, with the baptism of Brother Hodges, who's joined his family in the gospel :) Last night Brother Hodges then had the opportunity to baptise his son, who is 8.

So yes, great things are happening here.

HOWEVER! Very unexpectedly, transfers happened! I've been assuming that I'll be staying in Rockingham for the duration. Everyone's assumed that, actually :D However, that is not to be. Turns out, I'm being transferred up to Noranda area, with Elder Ward as my companion. That's right, back up to Dianella Zone, somewhere I've been before, too! Interesting. I'll miss this place a lot, but I know that Elder Liehr and his new companion, Elder Shin, and the other new missionaries in the other area will be very good for the members and investigators here.

Hey! Also, it's my birthday! I appear to be 21.

I love you all!

I'm planning on making this next transfer the best EVER, wherever I am.

Love,

Elder Reeder

Summer days

Good morning, Family and Friends :) How goes? Since last Thursday, the week has progressed a bit slowly, but we have seen some promising potentials coming out of the woodwork.

Friday evening, we went to visit the Ngatai family. One of brother Ngatai's daughters, Crystal, isn't a member, but she has always been very friendly to the missionaries. We started out sharing a message about making covenants (it being new years, etc), and then Crystal surprised us by asking us some questions about covenants! We answered her questions, and then we all began discussing the Plan of Salvation, and how it related to each of us. She's been gaining interest in learning over the past few months, which is pretty cool to see. We asked her what her thoughts were on baptism; She doesn't feel ready to yet, but she is thinking about it. Cool!

Sunday was the first fast and testimony meeting of the year. There were a Lot of people who came up to bear their testimonies :) The spirit was strong. We also had a couple of members commenting on member missionary work. It woke up the ward a bit, and the fire is being rekindled again, I think. There were several volunteering to come out with the missionaries when we do splits on Thursdays.

After church finished, I had the wonderful privilege of interviewing someone for baptism! Brother Hodges has been coming to church with his family for a few years now, and decided just a few weeks ago that he should take the lessons and be baptised! We're so excited for him. I really felt the spirit testify as we met, he is ready to take this step :) He's going to be baptised this coming Saturday.

In other news, David, from Greenmount, was just baptised and confirmed a member of the church! Hooray!

This is the last week of the transfer here. I'm interested in seeing what's going to happen in these next few weeks :) And I'm looking forward to it.

I love you all! and I hope you're all having a great time in the snow. (If you're not, then go and do it. I can't because there's no snow here.)

It's 34C here today. (93F)

Love,

Elder Reeder

Ringing in the New Year

Happy New Year, family and friends! It's now 2014, the beginning of a new year!

Did anyone make any good resolutions for the new year?

It's a great time to do so :) It's like turning over a new leaf, making a fresh start on life. Something I found in the scriptures to relate with this can be found in Mosiah 18:13. Helam, after being taught by Alma, desires to change and work to become a better person. As evidence of his desire, he enters into a Convenant with his Heavenly Father to work to become that person. Resolutions are much the same: each year we make a resolution to change something about ourselves, to try and be better :) Sometimes they're personal goals, like resolving to lose 10kgs during the next year, etc. And sometimes they're spiritual, like resolving to read the scriptures every day throughout the year. Either way, I love ringing in the new year, with that great opportunity to make that year the best yet. :)

So! I'm writing on Thursday, today. Our library closed for the Christmas season, until next week. So all the missionaries tried to go to the only other libraries in the area, to find out that their computers had all died. Bummer. They're fixed now, so... Elder Liehr and I spent Monday trying to find our way around via bus. After we arrived in Mandurah, we realised we'd boarded the wrong one. Oops.

In zone meeting this past week, there's been a lot of focus again on working with the members. Tip: Next general conference is going to be really focused on missionary work, in case you hadn't already guessed :) There are still many members who are nervous about missionary work. What we're focusing on is bringing them to appointments with us, so that not only do our investigators have some great fellowship with the member, but joining in on teaching serves to strengthen their own testimony of missionary work.

Sounds like stuff we've done before, but there's still plenty of work to be done, and plenty of practice to have :)

Love to everyone, and hope everyone's having a great new year!

Elder Reeder