Nearly There!

Good morning, good morning! Today is Monday, and I am still alive and well :) Why do I say this, you ask?

Elder Segi and I had the privelege of experiencing an early summer heat wave! It was 34C on Friday (93F).

Anyway. The week. We've found out that there are a few members and potential investigators in a suburb called "Casaurina." Casaurina is about 10 kilometers from Anything, except the highway. But we biked it, and found a guy named Richard. He's pretty cool, from South Africa. He's studying Theology at the university. He had a lot of questions. We gave him a book of mormon before we left. Cool.

JD is doing awesome. We set up a time for him to be interviewed this week, and he'll be baptised this Saturday, by Elder Segi. Still excited as ever :) Unfortunately, with Jules, we've run into some difficulties. We haven't been able to get in contact with him for about 2 weeks now. We've no idea what's happened. Hopefully he's all right.

We've had some really odd things happen this week. One: We were biking down the street, when we were stopped by a very drunk man, who asked us if we had some money. He then started asking us why we were "terrorizing people on our fancy bikes, where did we get them bikes anyway," etc. etc. And then, a guy comes riding past him, on a UNICYCLE. Wow, that was pretty random.

We also ran into a former investigator, at a less-active member's home. Her name is Tamara. The family was really nice, and said we could come back again sometime :) Apparently, she's visited the US before, specifically Utah. And she couldn't get over the fact of how many different kinds of jello salad people can make. She went to a family for a lunch, and there was a whole table dedicated to the stuff :D Marshmallows, carrot, pineapple, and on and on and on. She's amazed it's a "salad." (here, it's a dessert only.)

So, this week is the last week of the transfer. Holy Cow, it's really flown by! I can't believe it. And we've gotten some rumors from the zone leaders that we might be training this next transfer... D:

The district is ON FIRE! During correlation last night, I figured out that between our district (4 companionships), we have 8 baptismal dates! That's got to be some sort of record. And 4 of them were set this week! Everyone's pretty happy right now. The Rockingham elders had a cool experience with the family that they're teaching.

Of random note: I got a haircut.

Sorry if there's not much here this week, I can't really think this morning :P

Love you all! And Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,

Elder Reeder

Sunshine!

Another week in Australia!

Elder Segi and I have probably ridden 200 k's this week, all over our area. A lot of people have suddenly come down with illness (again?). Elder Segi caught it, too, and conked out Monday evening. He's determined not to let it get the better of him, though. He bought some tablets and we were out and about again. (This was Monday. He's feeling better now.)

Also, apparently the nearest bike shop, to buy tube replacements from, is about an hours walk away. Yup, we found this out the hard way. Very long story short, We're borrowing another missionary's bike for a while. :P

We've been working a lot with our two investigators with baptismal dates. I'm so excited! Our whole district is on fire, actually. There are 4 dates right now :) The gospel is really reaching the people in Western Australia!

JD is really excited. Every time we go over, the tv goes right off, he gets his scriptures, pen, and notebook and sits right down with us. He's determined to remember everything. His younger siblings as well, are starting to get into it! What an example he's setting for the rest of his family.

Jules (We found out it's spelled that way, not 'jeas'). is getting there as well! We reset his date to the 1st of December. He agreed with it, and wants to make sure that he's ready when he's baptised. We had a wonderful lesson with him on the book of mormon. We gave him a copy in his language. He got really emotional, and told us that he would give it to his wife. He and his wife had been going to different churches for 26 years, but he is certain that this would bring them together at last. We love meeting with Jules, and he loves us as well. We just need to get him to church, something's keeping him from coming right now.

We spent Friday out in Rockingham, on the Foreshore, contacting people with the other elders. THE BEACH IS SO BEAUTIFUL. I seriously wanted to go down to the water. But we can't. Darn. Elder Segi and I found some pretty cool people that day, including a man from Egypt! We also got very sunburned. Not so cool.

Yesterday was Remembrance Day. At 11AM there was a moment of silence to reflect on those who died in WWI, and for the signing of the Armistice, which ended it.

Well, that's my week. It's been pretty spiritual for us all. We went tracting and were actually invited inside a house, and able to share a lot of our beliefs about after this life with an older man. We helped him to see that he Did have a faith. It was really cool.

Love,

Elder Reeder

Mo-vember

So, sounds like people were having a blast at Halloween? :D I like the idea of donuts.

We actually had a Halloween activity down here! It was a trunk-or-treat as well. We all had some investigators attend, which was cool. I shook hands with a little kid, not realizing it was covered in toffee. Cute.

Friday and Saturday were pretty hectic. We spent much of it in the sister's area, helping to get the work going there. It was actually pretty fun, and we did get a few potentials for them to work with :) They were grateful. Then Elder Segi and I went with the Zone Leaders to our Ward Mission Leader's home, to meet with him for the first time. He's a good leader. Right afterwards, he came out with us and we visited some people we'd been working with.

Saturday was cool, though! Guess what? We have a baptismal date! We met with Jeas in the morning. I was so impressed with his faith. He wants to do all that he can to be with God again. We invited him to be baptised, and he accepted! We set a date for November 17th. He told us that this week, so many people had been calling him and inviting him to things, all on the 17th. But he knew what was most important, and he'd be there for that date. :) He didn't make it to church yesterday, though, so it's going to be set back a couple of weeks so we can help him be prepared.

The other date that we set was for a kid named JD. He's 10, and his grandfather is a recent convert. We went by last Saturday and taught him for the first time, and this time, we went by and talked about baptism with him. He's all set to do it, and his mother is supportive of him. JD will be baptised on the 24th of November! He's an awesome kid.

We've been really blessed, lately. We went tracting, and met a guy at someone else's house, named Jamie. He invited us over to his house. We taught him the Restoration, and about the Book of Mormon. He told us "Yeah, I will read this, and I'm definitely going to pray about it." Hahaha, he was thinking of getting his bike and riding with us over to some friends of his that he thought would be interested as well! Holy awesome. We're going to go back over tomorrow and follow up with him :)

So November is actually Mo-vember. I'm not exactly sure what it's all about, but there's a big emphasis on facial hair this month...? In any case, thank you mom for the halloween costume! I got it the day After Halloween, but we got together with the zone leaders and had some fun wearing them. Perfect timing :D

Thanks for the package! I loved it. And the pictures were awesome ;)

It's been raining for the past two days. Whee!

I love you all!

Elder Reeder